The Tribune

WITH a little more time to work with their teams, coaches for both the New Providence and Grand Bahama All-Stars feel as if they could have had better showings against the Miami Northwestern High School in the Hoopfest High School Tournament at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium over the weekend.

On Friday, the New Providence All-Stars got off to a slow start and ended up getting routed 71-36 by Miami.

On Saturday, the Grand Bahama All-Stars got off to a good start, but couldn’t maintain their composure, losing 66-47 to Miami.

The two-day event featured some of the top high school teams out of the United States of America. Although no champions were crowned, all of the teams, except those from the Bahamas, played two games.

By virtue of having two teams, the NP and GB All-Stars only played once.

• Here’s a summary of the games played in the tournament organised by American Glenn Smith and Bahamians Jerome Gomez and Jeff Rodgers.

Duncanville High School def. Roselle Catholic 73-58, Duncanville High nipped Oak Ridge High 76-74, Sunrise Christians def. Oak Ridge High 58-53 and Sunrise Christians def. Roselle Catholic High 73-62.

Miami Northwestern High 66, Grand Bahama All-Stars 47: After coming back from a 12-11 deficit at the end of the first quarter, the Floridians managed to surge ahead 28-23 at the half and they never looked back.

Calvin Russell exploded for a game high 28 points with 11 points and five assists, Tristan Thomas had 12 points with eight rebounds and both PJ Paulk and Giovanny Desire both added 10 points.

“I think we had a slow start and that was because of the way this team played us, but we managed to pick it up and started to play Bulls basketball,” said Miami’s coach Melvin Randall. “This is our first time in the Bahamas. We enjoyed it, so we will be back.”

For the GB All-Stars, Tiano Roberts was the only player in double figures with 19 points and seven rebounds. Their next best scorer was Denage Kelly with six points.

“It was a great experience. We did what we expected with the short time to work with these guys. I think we let it get away from us midway in the third quarter,” said Darrel Sears, who coached the GB team along with Jay Philippe and Kevin Clarke.

“We were right there in the game, but we couldn’t rebound the ball. Our size hurt us a bit. They did what they wanted to do to us in the third quarter as they pulled away. Our guys just got discouraged. But it was a great experience.

Miami Northwestern 71, NP All-Stars 36: Thanks to a 15-3 spurt in the first quarter, the next door neighbours didn’t have any mercy, extending their margin to 40-20 at the half and they were never in any trouble the rest of the way.

Calvin Russell came up big with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five steals, Fatoma Faulk 15 points with 10 rebounds and Coru Lovett added 13 points.

For the losing home based team out of New Providence, Laterro Young was the only player in double figures with 13 points and four rebounds. Jefferson Bethel was next with seven points.

“We could have done a much better job in terms of closing out the shooters. But it was a good game, but we just needed more games to improve as a team,” said NP coach Denycko Bowles. “We started out pretty late preparing this team. It’s not fun when you lose, but they will learn from this experience.”

Darshtyn Baker, who assisted Bowles, couldn’t agree more.

“Most of our guys are not used to playing at this level, but they managed to settle down. It was a bit too late,” Baker said.

“This was a test for them to see the level that they have to face. Most of the guys are 10 and 11 graders, so they still have some more preparation to go.”

Duncanville High 76, Oak Ridge High 74: With just six seconds left on the clock, Ron Holland drove inside for the game winning lay-up to keep the Texas top ranked Duncanville High undefeated in their two games played as they improved their season’s record to 11-0.

“I felt really good. My team-mates trusted me with the ball and I knew once I went for it, it was going to go,” said Holland, who finished with a game high 29 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block shot. “We just love being here. It was a great event for us to participate in.”

KJ Lewis added 15 points with five rebounds and Kayden Edwards had 13 points for the Panthers in the win.

“We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game because it was a quick turn around for us after playing the last game last night and the first one today,” said Duncanville’s coach Neiman Ford. “I knew we just needed to take it in striking distance.

“We have a team that plays with a heart of a champion. These kids have already won three straight state championships, so there’s no quitting in us. This is our first time here, but we are in awe. We had such a wonderful time and to win both games we played was what we came here to do.”

In a losing effort for Oak Ridge, Jordan Tillery had 20 points and four rebounds, Cameron Simpson had 12 points and three rebounds and Tyler Johnson helped out with 10 points and four rebounds.

Duncanville High 73, Roselle Catholic 58: Ron Holland pumped in 18 points, Kayden Edwards had 17; KJ Lewis had 15 with 11 rebounds and Cameron Barnes finished with 13 points and seven rebounds in their opener.

Sebastian Robinson had 14 points and five rebounds, Al-Terick Watson had 11 points with four rebounds and Akil Watson added 10 points with six rebounds in the loss for Roselle Catholic.

Sunrise Christians 73, Roselle Catholic High 62: Matas Buzelis led a balanced scoring attack in the final game played with a game high 20 points with 14 rebounds, two block shots and a pair of assists as Sunrise, the alma mater of Bahamian players Chavano “Buddy” Hield (NBA) and Lourawls ‘Tum Tum’ Nairn, (college assistant coach), out of Bel Aire, Kansas, remained undefeated.

Miro Ltle had 26 points, eight rebounds with three assists, Scotty Middleton had 12 points and both Layden Blocker and Mikel Brown helped out with 11 points.

Al-Terick Watson scored 14 points with three rebounds, Simon Wilcher had 13 points, five rebounds and five assists Mackenzie Mgbako added 10 points and nine rebounds in the loss for Roselle Catholic from New Jersey.

Sunrise Christians 58, Oak Ridge High 53: Matas Buzelis scored a game high 17 points with seven rebounds and Scotty Middleton provided a 1-2 punch with 10 points as Sunrise got the win.

Jordan Tillery paced the losers with 16 points with six steals and four rebounds. Tyler Johnson added 14 points with six rebounds.