The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Basketball Federation will take its National Round Robin Tournament to South Andros this weekend, but there won’t be any competition for the men’s division one.

The nationals, scheduled for Friday to Sunday, will christen the newly built South Andros Gymnasium with only division II teams from New Providence, Andros and Eleuthera participating.

According to federation president Eugene Horton, the division one teams from New Providence, Grand Bahama and Abaco have all indicated that it was too costly to make the trip to South Andros and so they won’t be able to participate.

“It’s disappointing that we won’t have the division one playing,” Horton said. “But we had to make it happen for division II. We talked about it from the executive level as we spoke with the teams and we made sure that they get to play.”

Horton said once the nationals is over, the executives will sit down and decide how best they can encourage all of the leagues to get their local associations on par with each other so that they can get to travel to the nationals.

Your Essential Store Giants emerged as the champions of the New Providence Basketball Association and, according to head coach Mark Hanna, they are looking forward to travelling to South Andros to represent New Providence well.

“Right now, South Andros is the place to be. Hopefully the guys will stay focused enough to win some games,” Hanna said. “We heard that the gym in South Andros is really nice, so we hope to go there and christen it with the championship victory.

“These guys worked hard all year, so it’s nice to get to travel. This is their reward. I always tell people, I have two hobbies, basketball and travelling. When they all come together, I’m like a kid in the candy store.”

While he has only seen a few of the division II teams perform, Horton said he’s confident that there will be some exciting games played in South Andros, especially from the YES Giants, who have had another dominating season in the NPBA.

“We’re excited to go down to South Andros. This is going to be the first tournament to break in the new gym,” Horton said. “From what I understand, they are excited to have the tournament there,“So we’re looking forward to having some good fan support from the folks in South Andros and to have a very successful tournament there this weekend. It should be very exciting.”

Here’s a summary:

The Giants completed a three-game sweep of the Produce Express Rockets in their best-of-five championship series that wrapped up on Monday night at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.

YES took the opener on April 11 with a 86-79 decision behind the 27 points, seven rebounds and three assists performance from Brandon Strachan. Anton Williams led the way for Produce Express with 20 points, four rebounds and as many assists.

In game two on April 13, YES again won 79-73 as Kenvon Farrington led the way with 16 points, five assists, five steals and four rebounds, while Strachan was held to just 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. Willaims paced the Rockets with 19 points, seven rebounds, seven steals and four assists.

And on Monday, YES won 77-66 as Strachan exploded for 30 points with 11 rebounds, seven steals and three assists. Kirkly Farrrington chipped in with 14 points. In a losing effort, Anton Williams had 16 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals.

“We started the season off kind of slow. When you win so much, guys take things for granted, but we get lackadaisical,” Hanna said. “We lost one game and that was because we only had five players out to a game on a Sunday when most of the players had to work.

“We came into the playoffs on fire and swept through the first and second round and stepped itb up in the championship. I’m really proud of how well the guys played in winning another championship.”

Here’s a look at the opening day division II schedule:

Friday’s schedule

4 pm North Andros Marlin Enterprises vs Your Essential Store Giants.

5:30 pm South Andros Defenders vs Harbour Island Panthers.

7 pm Mangrove Cay Sharks vs North Andros Marlin Enterprises.

8:30 pm Your Essential Store Giants vs Harbour Island PAnthers.

10 pm South Andros Defenders vs Mangrove Cay Sharks.

The tournament will continue on Saturday at 9 am and will wrap up on Sunday with the champion being crowned as history is made in the newly built South Andros Gymnasium.