SPORTS SECTION E
NFL
Wild Card, Pages 4, 5
MONDAY, JANUARY 8, 2018
Teleos junior boys off to great start in Majority Rule tourney By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net THE Teleos Cherubims junior boys’ team got off to a great start in Freedom Baptist Academy’s fifth annual Majority Rule Basketball Tournament over the weekend. The tournament for primary boys and girls and junior girls got started at the Anatol Rodgers Gymnasium on Saturday. It will conclude on Wednesday during the Majority Day holiday. “I think we’re doing excellent,” said Renaldo Maycock, Teleos’ head coach. “I think they are performing above and beyond what I expected of them. “We just have to continue to play defence and do what we have been doing today and that is win so that we can win this tournament too.”
FAST BREAK: The tournament for primary boys and girls and junior girls got started at the Anatol Rodgers Gymnasium on Saturday. Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff of
Teleos is coming off a pair victories in the Father
Marcian Peters Invitational and the Temple Christian Academy
tournaments and Maycock said he would like nothing better than to add this one to their collection for Pastor Dave Adams. Standing in their way of success is Christian Heritage. Coach Emerick Taylor said they want to avenge their only loss in the tournament to Akhepran. “I still think there are things that they could be doing. They are not getting back on defence,” he pointed out. “But I guess we will see how it goes on Wednesday. We will be ready for that team that beat us on Wednesday.” Josiah Major, one of the tournament directors, said they invited a number of teams to participate, but they got a lot of response from the teams in the Bahamas Scholastic Athletic Association who showed up. “The first day went pretty good. We had some good competition, so I want to thank God for that,” he said.
Major said he missed a lot of his players because they were not back in school yet, but he was pleased with what they accomplished. He said they are looking forward to the completion of the tournament on Wednesday when they play the remaining games before they get into the championships in all of the divisions. Tabitha Major, coach of Freedom Baptist primary and junior girls, said she’s been quite pleased with the performances from her teams. “My teams did a great job because even though we opened school on Tuesday, everybody wasn’t together, so we just came out with what we had,” she said. “I felt my teams did very well. The mini teams are just 7-8 year girls and they are playing with my 11-year-olds, so I think they did a
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Home run king crowned By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
T
he inaugural “Don’t Blink Home Run Derby In Paradise” was a revolutionary idea that produced a series of highlights and showcased the Bahamas’ elite baseball talent. Hundreds of supporters turned out to the event Saturday afternoon at the Montagu Bay foreshore to witness a power-hitting display from Bahamian minor leaguers and several visiting international prospects. One of those visiting players, Bo Bichette of the Toronto Blue Jays organisation, claimed the title of the first ever “Don’t Blink Home Run King.” Bichette hit nine home runs in the final round to defeat Lucius Fox Jr (Tampa Bay Rays) and Nick Gordon (Minnesota Twins). The 19-year-old shortstop, a second round selection by the Blue Jays in the 2016 MLB draft and currently a member of the Dunedin Blue Jays in Single A-Advanced, just completed a season where he was named the Midwest League MVP and the his organisation’s Minor League Hitter of the Year. “This event was awesome, the people gave us a lot of energy and we were just excited to come out here and show people in the Bahamas what baseball is all about. They are really good friends of mine so it meant a lot to come down here and be able to help
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BATTER’S UP: Dominic Collie in action during the inaugural “Don’t Blink Home Run Derby In Paradise” at Montagu on Saturday. Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff
Two-game sweep for the UB Mingoes in Florida By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net IT was a two-game sweep for the University of the Bahamas Mingoes men’s basketball team at the 2018 Eagles Men’s Basketball Classic over the weekend in Jacksonville, Florida.
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In their opener on Friday at the Eagles Gymnasium against Johnson University, the Mingoes escaped with a 71-70 win before they held off the Trinity Baptist College 72-65 on Saturday. “Trinity, after losing their first game, came out and led by nine points against us,” said Lavar Johnson, who assisted head coach Bacchus Rolle. “At the end of the first half, our guys were able to fight back into it. “We had a good all-around effort from our bench and the starters did what they had to do. After we sustained their first surge, we settled down and our offence started to click in.” After taking a 41-35 at the half, Johnson said they managed to open as much as a 18-point lead in the second half, only to watch as Trinity stormed back and made a contest out of it down the stretch. “We had a drought where we couldn’t score and they came back
to cut the deficit to about four points,” he pointed out. “But we were able to get it back again and controlled the rest of the game to hold on for the win.” Johnson said it was quite different from their opening game where they traded the lead with Johnson University before they able to preserve the close encounter in the final seconds. The Mingoes are now in Miami, Florida, where they are preparing for their final game set for 7pm tonight when they are slated to take on St John’s University before returning home on Tuesday. On their return home, the Mingoes will play their first game of the second half of the New Providence Basketball Association against the Rhythm Rebels at 8:30pm on Friday at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium. The Mingoes closed out the first half of the NPSA season with a 1-2 win-loss record.
• Here’s a summary of the two games they played in Florida over the weekend: Mingoes 71, Johnson University 70: Kemsy Sylvestre exploded for a game high 33 points in 37 minutes and 15 seconds. He was 15-of-2-0 from the field and 3-for-6 from the free throw line. Sylvestre also had four rebounds and two assists. Two other players finished in double figures as Justin Smith came up with 11 in 26:47 minutes and Justin Munroe had 10 points and four rebounds in 26:49 minutes. Donovan Dean added nine points, Ramon Dames had five and Javares McIntosh chipped in with the only other two points. University of the Bahamas outrebounded Johnson University 30-23, but they had one more turnover with a 7-6 difference. Johnson University, who led 31-29 at the half, had two players
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BAHAMAS FLAG FOOTBALL LEAGUE IN USFTL NATIONALS THE Bahamas Flag Football League will be amongst the almost 500 teams participating in the USFTL Flag Football Nationals from Friday to Sunday in Sarasota, Florida. The BFFL will be sending a male and female team to compete in the 9-on-9 and 8-on-8 style of play respectively. President of the BFFL, Jayson Clarke, advised that the BFFL has always had
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