The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Exuma and Ragged Island Navigators along with the Eleuthera Adventurers brought gold to the Family Islands after winning the basketball segment of the Bahamas Games.

The Navigators won against the Abaco Survivors in a crowd-pleasing thriller at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium on Saturday night. Also, in the marquee match of the day, the Adventurers narrowly edged out the New Providence Buccaneers in their quest to capture gold in the men’s division.

Adventurers vs Buccaneers

In one of the competition’s most highly anticipated matchups, the Buccaneers went up against the Adventurers.

Both teams collected blowout wins and created their own highlight reels en route to their championship showdown in front of a full crowd on Saturday night.

Ultimately, the Adventurers walked away with bragging rights and gold after narrowly defeating the home team 72-71.

The game was evenly matched from the opening tip to the final buzzer, the lead changed 21 times and the biggest lead was six by the Adventurers.

French Nationale Masculine League 2 player Domnick Bridgewater led the Adventurers in points with 21 along with 5 boards, and 3 dimes and steals.

Professional basketball player Jaraun ‘Kino’ Burrows complemented the efforts of the younger Bridgewater with 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in the win.

In the statistical categories, both teams were neck and neck on paper. The Adventurers had 11 second chance points meanwhile, the Buccaneers had 10.

Additionally, Eleuthera came away with 13 fastbreak points compared to the home team’s 10.

However, the slight difference maker was in the paint. The winning team amassed 40 points near the bucket on 54 per cent shooting but the Buccaneers had 28 points on 36 per ent shooting.

Despite the tough loss, the Buccaneers got good performances from Dylan Musgrove and Kemsey Sylvestre.

Musgrove poured in a game-high 25 points along with 5 boards and 3 steals. Sylvestre turned in a 15 points and 13 rebounds double double.

Dexter Cambridge, head coach of the Adventurers, reflected on how it felt to get the win for Eleuthera.

“It feels great after competing in five Bahamas Games as a player, three bronze, a silver, and now I am going home with a gold. This one feels great,” Cambridge said.

He added that it was a tough game from start to finish and despite some challenges with the officiating, his guys fought hard and stuck with the game plan to come out victorious.

With the Adventurers team consisting of a mix of veteran national players and younger talent, Most Valuable Player (MVP) Burrows talked about the timely win.

“It was a tough game. We knew our hands were full, they are gonna be a problem for years to come but this was our time [and] we all decided to come home and represent Dexter ‘Smiley’ and the greats that came before us,” he said.

Navigators vs Survivors

The women’s division battle between the Navigators and Survivors set the tone for both gold medal matches to wrap up basketball for the Bahamas Games.

The Navigators snuck away with a jaw-dropping win against the Survivors 65-64, another one-point win differential in the finals.

In the first half of the game, both teams came out ready to win but Abaco won the first half 35-30.

The team got out to a 50-37 lead in the third quarter and wrapped up the period with an eight-point lead. However, the tides shifted in the fourth quarter when former Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) player Waltiea Rolle fouled out.

Rolle was a difference maker in the paint - she got to work with 8 points, a team-high 19 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.

Despite the Navigators climbing back into the game following Rolle’s timely exit, the Survivors remained within 3 points in the final 12 seconds of the game.

With the score favouring the Navigators 64-61 after the team’s Cedricka Sweeting-Badmus split the pair of go ahead free throws, the Survivors looked for a three to push for overtime.

Aisja Strachan dropped a big three on the fastbreak to tie the game following an assist from teammate Valerie Nesbitt.

The game seemed to be headed into an extra period of play but in a split second Strachan committed an intentional foul on Sweeting-Badmus giving the opposing team a one-point advantage after she iced the game by splitting the free throws.

The Navigators turned in a great performance with three players notching double doubles.

MVP honours went to Leasha Grant who dropped 19 points and 20 rebounds in the Bahamas Games win.

Grant said they had a great team with a mix of young girls and veterans and it was simply a good win for Exuma.

Abaco’s Rolle talked about the gut-wrenching loss. “All around I think we played a pretty good game with good defence. The critical error at the end, we cannot blame her for that because she made the three to tie the game, mistakes happen, you just gotta keep going for the next games,” she said.

BRONZE

In the women’s division, Bucs defeated Adventurers 104-62. For the men, the Lucayans edged out the Survivors 94-91 for bronze.