The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

In a classic showdown in the future of competitive high school basketball in Grand Bahama, the Sunland Lutheran Stingers knocked off the Tabernacle Baptist Falcons 55-51 to take the senior boys’ title.

The two teams squared off in the finals of the Grand Bahama Secondary Schools Athletic Association’s Obie Wilchombe/ Derick ‘Bookie’ Nesbitt Tip-Off Basketball Classic at St George’s Gymnasium on Monday night.

In the championship game, most valuable player Jordan Saunders scored a game high 18 points, while Donnell Charles and Tianno Roberts both contributed eight. Jaden Pinder netted 14 and was joined by Alex Minus and Armad Abraham with nine apiece in a losing effort.

It was the second victory for Sunland who, in December, captured the I-Cares Tournament.

“It was just unbelievable, first of all, just to be able to compete again,” said Sunland’s head coach Jay Philippe, who was named the Coach of the Tournament. “We’ve been training, but there was the uncertainty of whether or not we would play again and when.

“For my guys, I have to give my team an A-plus for their effort. It was my most gratifying and satisfying victory. I think this was better than winning Hugh Campbell. The guys exhibited great sportsmanship all weekend and they came out victorious against a talented Tabernacle Baptist team.”

Philippe, a sportscaster at ZNS, said he had one player, Latrez McIntosh, who returned from their team two years ago when they played in the Hugh Campbell Tournament. He noted that he had a number of players who were recruited from the Family Islands and they were plugged into the team and got the job done.

Kevin Clarke, coach of the Falcons, said they had to fight too hard to get back into the game and that made a difference down the stretch.

“We didn’t get off to a great start and eventually found ourselves down by about nine at the half,” Clarke said. “We managed to cut the deficit down to about four in the last two minutes of the second half.

“But when you don’t make the free throws when you need to, it hurts. It turned out to be the difference between us winning and losing because the game came right down the stretch and we just fell short at the end.”

With the COVID-19 restrictions eased up, Philippe said they managed to finally play in front of a jammed-packed arena for the first time in at least two years.

“It was nerve-wrecking for my players and exciting for me,” he said. “We had a chance to play in front of our fans, our principal and the teachers. I think it’s a feeling that will be stretched in our memory for a long time.”

Clarke, noting how pleased he was with the fact that they finally got to play again in an environment that they were accustomed to before COVID-19, thanked tournament organiser Ozzie ‘The Insider’ Simmons for making the extra effort to pull the event off. “He really spoke to a lot of people and did a lot of work to make this happen,” Clarke said. “He deserves a lot of credit for all that he did.”

Following the tournament, which ran from Wednesday with six teams participating, named to the All-Tournament A team were Jordan Saunders, Tianno Roberts and Donnell Charles, all from Sunland and both Jaden Pinder and Leano Rolle from Tabernacle.

Named to the All- Tournament B team were Ashford Ferguson from Jack Hayward; Leon Evans from St George’s; Jeff Pinder from St Paul’s; Denzil Delancy from Sunland and Ahmad Abraham from Tabernacle Baptist.

Leano Rolle of Tabernacle Baptist was named the Defensive Player of the Tournament.

Both Sunland and Tabernacle Baptist are now preparing to play in another tournament in Abaco in June before they prepare to travel to the United States to participate in a few AAU Tournaments in July.

Clarke is also expected to coach one of the teams in the Buddy Buckets Tournament for high school players, being organised by National Basketball Association player Chavano “Buddy” Hield of the Indiana Pacers.