Teams will be eliminated this afternoon as the tournament moves into Day Four
Simba FrenchSend an emailFebruary 23, 2023 115 3 minute read
The Grand Bahama and Family Island teams tipped off play at the Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic at the Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium yesterday.
Securing a victory in their first-ever tournament play was the Study Hall Academy Knights out of Grand Bahama. They took down the S.C. Bootle Dolphins out of Abaco, 65-32. The Patrick J. Bethel Marlins out of Central Abaco had a tough time against the Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves, falling 54-18.
Grand Bahama’s Eight Mile Rock Blue Jays easily won over Abaco’s Agape Christian Eagles, 50-35. In the final game of the early session, the Gateway Christian Academy Eagles, out of Bimini, got a 49-31 win over Grand Bahama’s Bishop Michael Eldon Warriors.
Action continues on Day Four today at noon. Teams will be eliminated in the afternoon session.
Knights 65, Dolphins 32
The Knights only had six active players because of flight availability but that did not stop them from getting a blowout victory against a full squad from the Dolphins.
A 15-5 first quarter advantage was enough for the Knights to gain momentum and they kept the pressure on for the rest of the game. They ended the game with 18 steals and had an eye-popping 26 points off turnovers.
Leading the way for the Knights was Edwin Ferguson who went 7-for-11 from the field to finish with a game-high 27 points. Trenaz Rigby and Jahmarion Albury each added 10 points.
Knights’ Head Coach Denzel Knowles said they had some trouble getting everyone on the plane from Grand Bahama, so he had to bring his core guys and the rest will come later.
“It was a good warm-up game playing against a team that we felt we were more athletic and faster than. It was good for us to get our feet wet and get prepared for what’s to come,” Knowles said.
Miguel Sawyer scored 16 points in the loss.
Timberwolves 54, Marlins 18
Playing their second game on consecutive days, the Timberwolves hardly broke a sweat as they welcomed the Marlins to New Providence with a drubbing.
The Government Secondary Schools Sporting Association (GSSSA) runners-up went up 29-8 at the half. They then held the Marlins to 10 points in the second half to get a wire-to-wire victory.
Jefferson Bethel led the Timberwolves with 15 points in just 13 minutes of play.
“We played a solid game for four quarters,” said Timberwolves’ Head Coach Denycko Bowles. “The main focus of this game was defense. We had to make sure we had the proper rotations on defense. We had the intensity. We are working on a lot of things going forward.”
The Timberwolves had 26 steals and had 32 points from the Marlins’ turnovers.
Blue Jays 50, Eagles 35
Andre Jones had a double-double with game-highs of 16 points and 12 boards for the Blue Jays and Shemeco Albury chipped in with 15 points as they got a double-digit victory.
It was a slow start for both teams as the first quarter ended with the Blue Jays holding a slim 8-6 lead.
The Blue Jays figured out the Eagles and was able to outscore them 19-10 in the second period to go into the intermission up 27-16. A strong defensive third quarter enabled the Blue Jays to extend their lead to as much as 24 points. That quarter ended with them up 44-22. They were outscored 13-6 in the final period but it had little effect on the final outcome.
Head Coach for the Blue Jays Justin Munroe said they wanted to see where they were at on the court and wanted to get the first game out of the way.
“The tournament will get easier as we get the jitters out and the boys know where they are. We can be better going forward,” Munroe said.
They out-rebounded the Eagles 44-29.
Dashawn Smith led the Eagles with 12 points.
Eagles 49, Warriors 31
The Eagles went into the half down 29-28. Eagles’ Head Coach Gilbert Rolle Jr. may have said something to his team that resulted in a different Eagles team in the second half as they overpowered the Warriors 37-13 in that half to pull off the victory.
Paulston Stuart played 20 minutes and scored 18 points to go with five steals.
According to Rolle, coming out of the half, his team turned up its intensity on defense.
“We put on our full-court press in the third quarter and along with some press packages, we were able to get some easy turnovers. We were able to get the momentum shifted. Stuart had three or four back-to-back steals for us. Everyone fed off that energy and we were able to put the game away,” Rolle said.
The Eagles went into an early 8-0 hole to start the game, something Rolle attributed to his team flying into New Providence after noon, checking into the hotel immediately and then coming straight to the gym.
He is looking forward to his team making a deep run in the tournament.
Hugh Campbell action continues today at noon at the Kendal Isaacs gym.