SPORTS SECTION E
TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2017
White team victorious By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
Brajaxba Elite Tennis Exhibition wraps up in Winton
K
evin Major Jr pulled off a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Justin Roberts, but it wasn’t enough for the blue team to stop the white team from sealing a close 16-15 decision in Brajaxba 2016 Elite Tennis Exhibition on Saturday at the Winton Tennis Centre. Competing for the white team, Roberts teamed up with fellow collegian Christian Cargill and rising young star Jacobi Bain and female players Savannah Roberts and Vika Malman as they outlasted the blue team that included Major Jr, Philip Major Jr, Joshua Turnquest, Jodi Turnquest, Iesha Shepherd and Sydney Clarke. The exhibition featured a series of matches, commentated by the colourful Eddie Carter. Each match was a best-of-four set with the tie-breaking with no advantage to determine a winner at 2-2. In matches played, Bain and Cargill won 3-1 over Turnquest and Turnquest in men’s doubles; Roberts and Cargill won 3-2 (2) over the Majors in another men’s doubles; the combo of Jodi and Joshua Turnquest and Clarke slipped past Bain and Roberts 3-2 (9) in mixed doubles; Shepherd and Clarke knocked off Malman and Roberts 3-1 in ladies’ doubles; Bain def. Joshua Turnquest 4-0 in men’s singles; Philip Major Jr beat Cargill 3-2 (1) in another men’s singles and Roberts sealed the deal with his 3-2 win over Kevin Major Jr in the final men’s singles. Brajaxba founder and head coach Bradley Bain said the exhibition was to provide the public an opportunity to view some of the best players in the country in action as they return home for the Christmas break from playing in college, academies or on the pro
WILD-CARD
NFL Weekend, Page 5
SAUNDERS AND THE SEMINOLES WIN CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
team for ladies. Roberts, along with Cargill, didn’t participate. But Roberts, a junior at the University of South Florida where he’s having a sensational season with the Bulls, said he had a lot of fun. “I grew up with these guys, so it was good to come back and play against them after two of three years,” Roberts said. “So it was nice to become and play in front of the crowd. It was only an exhibition, so it was all about having
IN his second New Year’s Six Bowl game, Mavin Saunders and his Florida State Seminoles capped his sophomore campaign and a dramatic mid-season turnaround on a winning note. The No.11 ranked Seminoles captured Capital One Orange Bowl with a thrilling 33-32 win over No.6 Michigan Wolverines at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. “What a game, what a season, we just getting started,” Saunders posted on various social media platforms. Seminoles quarterback Deondre Francois connected with Nyqwan Murray on a 12-yard touchdown pass for the game winning score with 36 seconds remaining. “This is what you’ve got to play for, to be able to make it to an Orange Bowl,” FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said. “Even though you didn’t win a national championship, to make it to an Orange Bowl, to play a team like Michigan, to play in an environment and atmosphere like this. Any time you keep score, that’s what you’ve got to play for.” Expected to be a national title contender early on, the Seminoles struggled in the first half of the season with a 3-2 record. They finished strong by ending the year with wins
SEE PAGE 3
SEE PAGE 2
JUSTIN ROBERTS returns against Kevin Major Jr during the Brajaxba 2016 Elite Tennis Exhibition at Winton Tennis Centre on Saturday. Roberts lost the match but his white team prevailed with the victory over the blue team. Photo: Shawn Hanna/The Tribune circuit. “Most of the times they are in college and after college they are on the tour playing in Futures tournaments, so we don’t get the opportunity to see them,” Bain said. “They are some of the best players and so we wanted to take the opportunity to expose them to the public, who only get to read stories about them and now they can see them in person.” The event also turned out to be a charity one for Brajaxba, which raised some funds that they presented to Special Olympics Ba-
hamas at the end of the night. In the future, Bain said they hope to expand on what they are doing by honouring some of the former outstanding tennis players in the country. The exhibition came just after the conclusion of the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association’s annual Giorgio Baldacci National Open Tennis Tournament that was played at the National Tennis Centre and featured the majority of the top players in the country, who tried out for both the Davis Cup for men and the Fed Cup
Tabernacle Baptist Falcons take 3rd place AYTON By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net THEY missed out on the opportunity to play for the 2016 Arby’s Classic, but the Tabernacle Baptist Falcons made sure that the consolation crown didn’t slip out of their grasp as well as they took the third place prize with them back to Grand Bahama over the New Year holiday weekend. The Falcons, coached by Kevin Clarke, pulled off a 79-73 victory over Gate City in the tournament’s consolation game at the Viking Hall in Bristol, Tennessee, on Saturday. “The team had a successful tournament,” Clarke told The Tribune. “In the first game, we played against McCallie, who played in the championship game. We played them tough, but some missed assignments cost us the game. “The next two games we played some pretty tough teams, but we managed to win both games. Franco (Miller) led us in scoring. I think he averaged 20-plus points throughout the whole tournament. But overall, the team played good as a whole. The Bahamian people would have been proud of the way we played and would have appreciated the way
we represented them over here.” Clarke said the tournament opened a lot of doors for their players as they got the opportunity to meet a number of college coaches who are interested in securing athletic scholarships for them. And Shyrone Kemp got some extra exposure as he was splashed across the front page of the Bristol Herald Courier, winning the Slam Dunk title. With their performance, Clarke said he and the rest of the coaching staff, including past head coach Norris Bain and assistant Quincy Gray, are confident that Tabernacle Baptist will be a force to reckon with in their drive to win both the Grand Bahama Secondary Schools Sports Association and the prestigious Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic titles in February. Miller, who was named to the All-Tournament team, and Desmond Butler - their two top-notch players - combined for 51 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in the victory. While Miller paced the way with 29 points on 8-19 from the field and 9-13 from the free throw line, Desmond Butler went 7-16 from the field and 4-4 from the charity stripe for 22. Alfredo
SEE PAGE 4
NAMED MVP AS BRUINS CAPTURE JOHN WALL INVITE TITLE By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
SHYRONE KEMP, of the Tabernacle Baptist Falcons, hangs from the rim after dunking in the final round of the Slam Dunk Contest. Photo courtesy of Bristol Herald Courier
BASKETBALL doesn’t stop during the holiday season, and DeAndre Ayton’s Hillcrest Prep Bruins captured another early season tournament title over the weekend. Ayton was named the Most Valuable Player as the Bruins won the John Wall Holiday Invitational’s “TJ Warren Bracket” in Raleigh, North Carolina and also took the time to discuss the changes he wants to see in Bahamian basketball. The top ranked player in the class of 2017 and Arizona Wildcats commit finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds in a
SEE PAGE 4