The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE the fact that they had to adjust the schedule because of some of the teams pulling out at the last minute, the 2019 Providence Holiday Classic has been a very competitive one.

The tournament for high school boys and girls teams was originally scheduled for the CI Gibson Gymnasium but was moved to the DW Davis Gymnasium. It got started on Friday and will wrap up tonight.

At 11am, the playoffs for the boys will be played, followed by the third-place consolation games for the girls and boys at 4 and 5pm. The girls’ and boys’ championship games will conclude the night.

Only four teams played in the girls’ division, which was contested for the first time. St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine emerged as the top seed, followed by CI Gibson, St John’s and Anatol Rodgers.

Those four teams will either end up in the championship game or play for the consolation third place.

In one half of the boys’ playoffs, last year’s runners-up and host CI Gibson Rattlers, the top team out of pool one with a perfect 3-0 win-loss record, will take on Anatol Rodgers, the number two team out of pool two with a 3-1 record.

The other half will showcase the visiting St George’s Jaguars from Grand Bahama, who finished on top of pool two with a 3-1 record. They will take on the CC Sweeting Cobras, who ended up second in pool one with a 2-1 record.

“Coming into this tournament is always a good thing for us because it gets us tougher because we see a different style of play of basketball and it catapults us going into our season in Grand Bahama,” said St George’s assistant coach Calvin McIntosh.

“So whenever we can come to this tournament, we will definitely come. The competition is good and it helps us out tremendously. We came here to grow up. We have a very young team compared to last year. Last year, the team could have gone out there and play. This year, we have to coach.”

The Jaguars, whose head coach is Darrel Sears, advanced to the playoffs as they knocked off the Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves 43-37 on Sunday, handing them their first loss in the tournament.

Harcourt McCoy, the head coach of Anatol Rodgers, said it’s a loss they accept, but they will be back for the playoffs.

“We’re going through some growing pains and some because we have some injuries with about three players who are in the starting line up, so players coming off the bench have to do aq little more,” McCoy pointed out.

“We had a really big game against Queen’s College last night (Saturday) when the point guard hit a buzzer-beater to put us into the overtime and then we turned in on in the extra period,” said McCoy of a 47-44 decision.

“But we needed the players to transfer that type of performance coming off the bench and we didn’t have that against St George’s.”

Anatol Rodgers is currently 2-1 in the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association, having lost their only game so far in the regular season to CI Gibson. The two will clash in the playoffs today and McCoy is hoping they can beat them again, just as they did in the championship game of their tournament they hosted just before Christmas.

“I’m not so interested in setting a goal to beat them, but my goal is to try and execute what we have been practicing,” McCoy proclaimed. “We need those players who come off the bench to produce for us if we are going to be successful.”

Coach Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson, whose Rattlers lost to the Dame Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins in last year’s final, is hoping that they will go all the way and win it, but he knows that they have a hump to get over against Anatol.

“Anatol is a very aggressive team, very well-coached. We have to be prepared and ready to go,” Johnson stressed. “We have to be able to defend very well and make the free throws.

If we can make 50 percent from the line, we will be able to beat them. Anatol will be ready. We just have to be ready too. So I think it will come down to our percentage shooting from the free-throw line.”

Johnson said despite the fact that some of the teams dropped out, the teams that showed up played extremely well and they provided a lot of excitement for the fans on hand.

In Sunday’s action to clinch their top[ positions in their respective pools, CI Gibson def. Government High Magics 49-20; CC Sweeting def. Jordan Prince Williams Falcons 53-36 and St George’s def. Anatol Rodgers 43-37.

Jaguars 43, Timberwolves 37: Dion Storr led a balanced scoring attack for St George’s with nine points, three rebounds and a pair of steals. Adrian Pinder had eight points, five rebounds, two assists and as many steals, while Micah Moss had six points and six rebounds and Billy Michel chipped in with six points and three rebounds.

Kevin Thompson was the lone player in double figures for Anatol Rodgers with 14 points, five assists, four rebounds and four steals.

Cobras 53, Falcons 36: Donovan Aranah led two players in double figures for CC Sweeting with 13 points, three assists and two rebounds, while Rickey Moxey Jr had 10 points and three steals.

In a great offensive game, Trenton Hutchinson exploded for a game-high 21 points for Jordan Prince Williams. Their next top scorer was Tevin Johnson with just eight points.

Rattlers 49, Magics 20: Chad Smith was the lone player in double figures with 15 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals to pace CI Gibson to another victory.

Dimargio Taylor led Government High 12 points.

Cherubims 39, Knights 37: Enrico Joseph converted a pair of free throws with just 37 seconds left to push Teleos ahead 39-32 as they went on to polish off CR Walker down the stretch.

Joseph finished with 11 points, but Daniel Adams paced the Cherubims with 14 points and five rebounds.

Romeo Cooper was the only Knight in shinning armor with 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Knights 39, Comets 32: In a game that didn’t have any playoffs implications, Stanley Pierre and Jermaine Thompson both scored 14 points with three and two rebounds respectively to lead CR Walker.

Eric Nelson led Queen’s College with eight points, three rebounds and two steals.

Here’s a look at the results of the games played in the round-robin of the tournament:

Government High def. Jordan Prince Williams 48-39; CI Gibson def. CC Sweeting 46-39; Queen’s College def. Teleos Christian Academy 61-56; CR Walker def. St George’s 44-40; CI Gibson def. Jorden Prince Williams 55-15; CC Sweeting def. Government High 33-31; Anatol Rodgers def. CR Walker 45-37; St George’s def. Teleos Academy 40-33; CI Gibson def. Government High 49-20; Anatol Rodgers def. Queen’s College 47-44; CC Sweeting def. Jordan Prince Williams 53-36; Teleos Academy def. CR Walker 39-37; St George’s def. Anatol Rodgers 43-37 and CR Walker def. Queen’s College 39-32.