The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins will have an opportunity to defend their National High School Basketball Championship, but to do so they will face a challenge from the Jordan Prince William Falcons.

The all-Nassau matchup for the national championship is all set to take place 7pm tonight at the St George’s Gymnasium in Freeport, Grand Bahama.

The Mystic Marlins advanced to the final with a 27-18 win over the Tabernacle Baptist Academy Falcons in the first semi-final last night.

Tanks Bowleg finished with a team high eight points, seven rebounds and five steals while Briontae Riley added seven points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

Mya Greene led the Falcons with seven points and Antonia Duncanson finished with four points and eight rebounds.

Neither team recorded a field goal in the final quarter, but the Mystic Marlins’ defence limited the Falcons to just a single point and forced eight turnovers as they pulled away late.

Doris Johnson entered the fourth leading 20-17 and Riley made four free throws to quickly extend the lead to seven. Her trips at the line would be the only score for the first 3:30 of the quarter.

Doris Johnson clung to a 24-17 with 1:37 left to play before Diondra Nixon split a pair at the line, the only score for Tabernacle in the quarter.

Mystic Marlins head coach Kevon Spence said his team’s defensive effort was the deciding factor in the second half.

“We can score. Our offence is very good and we have players than can execute and score the ball but our defence in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter, that was excellent tonight. Offence wins games but defence wins championships and if we’re going to win this championship it’ll be on the defensive end,” he said.

“It all started with Briontae in that fourth, she was the anchor on defence and really led us on the offensive end and that was important because she was in foul trouble early. We wore them down on defence and executed well enough on offence.”

The Mystic Marlins look to complete a season that included several tournament wins and a GSSSA title. “We worked all year to get to this point. Nothing satisfies them unless they win and so we are happy to get to the final but we are keeping our excitement in because we want to be national champions once more,” Spence said.

“We just have to have tunnel vision, stay focused, play every possession until the clock expires. That’s how we play basketball and that’s how we win.”

After both teams started the game with a trio of turnovers, the Falcons scored first on a runner from Green. They continued to trade scores with the game tied at time at 2,4 and 6 but Bowleg made a three pointer from the wing as time expired to take a 9-6 lead into the second.

The Mystic Marlins went ahead 11-6 but the Falcons scored four points right away and a Nixon fastbreak layup brought them within one. Green’s three pointer briefly gave Falcons their first lead of the game.

Doris Johnson tied the game on a Kristian Sands turnaround jumper and took the lead on a Bowleg free throw for a 14-13 advantage at the half.

Doris Johnson’s Thyrell Thompson made a floater and pull-up jumper to open the third. Tabernacle got scores from a four-point run of their own to cut the lead to one (18-17) with just under two minutes left to play before the Mystic Marlins regained a 20-17 lead headed into the fourth quarter.

The Jordan Prince William Falcons advanced with a 57-52 win over Tabernacle in the second semi-final.

Kristenique Moss scored a team high 15 for Jordan Prince William, Shaniqua Thompson added 13 and Terelle Cox scored eight.

Falcons head coach Terrence McSweeney said his team has arrived at this point in the postseason due to the dedication put into place in the preseason.

‘The program at Jordan Prince William, we just want to give God thanks for allowing us to be in this position. These girls put in the effort months ago and dedicated themselves with the hard work since last year. When we came together and we started our conditioning, it was to get to this point. Playing two games back to back was a challenge. But we were prepared. Tabernacle was one of the top teams this year so hats off to them they were committed like us to being one of the top teams,” he said, “Playing Doris Johnson will be a challenge. They have been a great team all year, they came here and won for the second time at the Geneva Rutherford tournament but we are ready to face that challenge. The girls will do their best to recuperate and we will be ready to go.”

On short rest, Tabernacle got off to a quick start and Nixon dished a no look pass to Green for a layup and an early 10-8 lead in a high scoring first quarter. The offence slowed down considerably in the second. Thompson made a pullup three pointer to tie the game at 12 with 5:10 left to play in the second quarter. The Falcons ended the quarter on an 13-4 run, capped by a Moss three point play to take a 26-16 lead into the half. The lead extended to as much as 18 in the third quarter before the Falcons trimmed it to 11 headed into the fourth, 38-27. Tabernacle reduced the lead to as little as six points but the Falcons were able to withstand the run and advance

In Division II, the championship matchup will feature Bimini All-Age against the Abaco Central Marlins.

Bimini has gone through the tournament undefeated thus far and opened with a 51-30 win over North Andros, followed by another dominant 52-30 win over Long Island. They advanced to the title game with a 43-30 win over Central Eleuthera.

Abaco Central advanced with a 39-34 win over the San Salvador Caciques in the semifinal.

“Our next game will be against Bimini and we know they have a team that really hustles, so we’ll have to go out there and match their intensity,” said Abaco head coach Ricardo Ferguson. “Next game we will look to press the ball and put some pressure on them. I’m not really to worried about our offense, because we can score off of our defense.

Abaco Central’s path to the championship opened with a 57-46 win over South Andros. They lost the first matchup to San Salvador, 36-28 but rebounded to defeat North Andros 48-43. They advanced to the semifinal with 41-38 win over Central Eleuthera.