The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Temple Christian Suns and Teleos Cherubims controlled the outcome of the opening games in their respective best-of-three Bahamas Scholastic Sports Association’s best-of-three championship series at the DW Davis Gymnasium yesterday.

In their mini-boys matchup, the two-time defending champions Suns moved one game closer to a threepeat with a 18-7 win over the Queen’s College Comets.

The Cherubims, however, made the most noise as their fans cheered on their teams as three other divisional finals got underway.

However, Zion Baptist Academy was able to silence them with a 31-26 decision in the senior boys’ finale after Teloes’ senior girls knocked off Freedom Baptist 24-14, while their intermediate boys got past San Pedros International 33-29 and their primary took care of Jordan Prince Williams Falcons 17-13.

• Here’s a summary of the games played:

Suns 18, Comets 7

Zion Thompson single-handedly outscored Queen’s College mini-boys by himself with a game high 10 points, including five as they opened a 7-3 margin at the half.

“Game one was closer than I expected,” said Temple Christian’s coach Keno Demeritte. “It was a challenge. I love the way they came out and played from the break. All season, we battled with that team so I knew it was going to be a good game.

“I’m just glad that my boys came out and executed at the end of the game to pull away. Hopefully we will come back on Wednesday and try and finish it off.”

Talon Higgs scored all seven points for the Comets in a losing effort.

“A lot of our guys are just learning, but they like the game of basketball,” said Eugene Horton, of the Giants’ coaches. “The whole idea is to let them have fun. Win, lose or draw, we are just going to have fun. But we will have to be more aggressive in game two.”

Cherubims 24, Warriors 14

Ladesha Johnson came up with eight points, G’Ashanique Finlay had seven, Brenelle Colebrook six and Erin Wilson three to lead a potent offensive attack for Teleos’ senior girls.

“We need a lot of work. We had a lot of errors, but hopefully tomorrow we can pull it all together and win it in two straight,” said Teleos’ coach Tanisha Joseph. “We have to work on our fast break, getting the passes off and hitting our free throws.”

Both Keitrah Duncombe and Tatianne Russell had four and Brinique Wilson three in a losing effort. Teleos opened a 5-3 lead at the end of the first quarter and extended it to 13-5 at the half. They stayed ahead for a 17-7 margin at the end of the third, but Freedom Baptist matched them with seven in the fourth to close the gap a bit.

“The girls just need to stick to the fundamentals and slow the game down,” said Freedom Baptist coach Josiah Major. “We were rushing a lot of our possessions and not trusting each other. Once they can calm down and do that, the sky is the limit for us.”

Cherubims 17, Falcons 13: Andrew Bethel scored a game high nine points, including four in the first half as Teleos opened a 9-5 advantage and never looked back.

Mortino Butler chipped in with three, all coming in the first quarter.

“We are a bit banged up, but we will be okay,” said Teloes’ coach Yves Pierre. “We just have to come out and play. Hopefully with a little bit of rest, we will be ready for game two on Wednesday.”

Philip Robinson had five in the loss for Jordan Prince Williams.

“The guys came out a little sluggish at the beginning. We started to fight later in the half, but unfortunately it was a bit too late,” said Falcons’ coach Philip Hanna,

For game two, he said they will have to “rebound” because their opponents have some “great talent” for primary boys.

Cherubims 33, San Pedros International 29

In a keenly contested intermediate boys showdown, Shamar Wallace poured in a game high 19 points to set the stage for Teleos.

Rico Wallace added seven and Jermaine Coakley chipped in with five.

Omarion Wallace scored 11, Andrew Capron had seven and Tanarjeo Moss finished with four in the loss.

Zion Academy 31, Teleos 26

In putting a stop to Teleos’ dominance on day one, Mark Charles produced 11 points to pace Zion Academy to their victory.

Chadwick Gills also had 11 in a losing effort for the Cherubims.

Today’s schedule,

starting at 4pm:

Freedom Baptist vs

Teleos Academy

(Senior girls)

Temple Christian vs

Hillcrest Academy

(Primary girls)

Teleos vs

Akhepran International

(Junior boys)