SPORTS SECTION E
NBA ACTION
Standings, Page 5
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2017
‘A great day for the sport of baseball’ By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
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fter years of negotiating, the Bahamas Baseball Association finally welcomed members of the Junior Baseball League of Nassau, the Eleuthera Junior Baseball League, the Grand Bahama Little League and the Grand Bahama Senior Baseball under its umbrella, in a move that they say is for the betterment of the players who want to represent the Bahamas at the international level. Although they are still missing some of the pieces in the puzzle, namely the Bahamas Baseball Federation and Freedom Farm, the amalgamation was called a “great day for the sport of baseball,” which has seen a resurgence with players competing at the professional level, but virtually no national teams competing overseas in recent years.
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
Floyd Armbrister came off the bench with 15 points and five rebounds, Lamont Armaly had 14 points, eight assists, three rebounds and three steals and William Rigby had 11 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals. In a losing cause, the Rockets got 21 points and three rebounds from Tomeko Moxey, 10 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals from Selwyn McKenzie, eight points and five rebounds from Dancel Knowles and seven points, 10 rebounds, three assists
WHILE making a donation of $275,000 to the IAAF/BTC World Relays, BTC Chief Executive Officer Leon Williams said they continue to be the title sponsor for as long as the event is held in the Bahamas. Williams made the announcement yesterday during a press conference to present the Local Organising Committee with their cheque for the third version of the IAAF/ BTC World Relays, scheduled for April 22-23. The remarks came in response to the LOC’s CEO Rosamunde Carey, who indicated on behalf of LOC chairman Keith Parker that they would be bidding to host the 2021 and 2023 World Relays to ensure that the Bahamas remains the home of the event. In addition to the presentation to the IAAF/BTC World Relays, BTC also made a $90,000 presentation to the Bahamas Swimming Federation for the hosting of the BTC CARIFTA Swimming Championships and $20,000 to the Bahamas Amateur Athletic Federation for their travel to Curacao for the CARIFTA Games. “BTC continues to demonstrate that we are truly committed to nation building through corporate citizenship,” said Williams in what they called a “blue letter day.” “In fact, we can boast that we are the unrivalled national leader in community support. BTC continues to demonstrate to our youth, and we’ve proven that once you can dream it, BTC will provide the funding to ensure that you achieve it.” Williams said BTC has been in the trenches for years with the sporting communities, even in instances when no other corporate sponsors were willing to support the athletes and associations/federations. “We have seen the value of our commitment over the years embodied in the many successes of our athletes,” said Williams, noting that they have supported Olympians Shaunae Miller, Arianna VanderpoolWallace, Ramon Miller and Demetrius Pinder. “BTC has for a long time been committed to sports and some of our other noteworthy contributions to sports include the High School Nationals, the Basketball Federation, Flag Football and the Bahamas Softball Association.” Williams said their customers from all over the country
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STRENGTH IN UNITY: Bahamas Baseball Association yesterday welcomed its newest members. Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff Sam Rodgers, who has assumed the role of president of the BBA after the passing of former longtime president Jim Wood, said his mentor is proudly looking down and smiling at the progress that they made in the agreement that they have reached with the newest members of the team. At a press conference on Tuesday at the Thomas A Robinson
National Stadium and surrounded by some of the newest members, Rodgers introduced Terran Rodgers as a vice president, Larry Forbes, vice president for the North Eastern Bahamas, Steven Adderley, vice president for the Northern Bahamas, Shane Albury as secretary and Andrew Saunders, Joseph Moss, Sandy Morley, Alonzo Pratt, Veancor
Darville as directors, along with former Major Leaguer Ed Armbrister as their baseball ambassador and Martin ‘Pork’ Burrows as Umpire in Chief. Sam Rodgers, who has worked with the late Wood for the past 35 years, said it was their intention to bring all of the factions under
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Cybots v Shockers all set
GAME TWO of the John Archer series between Mr Ship It Freight Regulators and the pennant winning Commonwealth Bank Giants is all set for 7pm Friday. The Giants hold a 1-0 lead. Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net THE pennant winning Real Deal Shockers and the defending champions Mail Boat Cybots will now clash in a rematch of the Vince Ferguson divisional final in the New Providence Basketball Association’s postseason. The Shockers advanced to the match-up after knocking off the Rockets 96-68 on Monday night for a 2-1 advantage in their bestof-three playoffs, while the Cybots held off the University of the Bahamas Mingoes 99-91 in the
TITLE SPONSOR BTC DONATES $275,000 TO THE 3RD IAAF WORLD RELAYS
feature contest to also close out their series 2-1. Game one of the ShockersCybots series will start on Friday at 8:30pm, following game two of the John Archer series between Mr Ship It Freight Regulators and the pennant winning Commonwealth Bank Giants, who are up 1-0. That game will get started at 7 pm. “We didn’t expect it (three games), but you have to expect the unexpected because no team is a push over if they come to play,” said Shockers’ coach James Price. “You have to be prepared for anything.” The Shockers came from a 19-
16 deficit after the first quarter to go up 47-39 at the half. They went on a 26-13 spurt in the third to extend their lead to 73-52 at the end of the final break. On another 2316 spurt in the fourth, they sealed the deal. At one point, the Shockers led by as much as 28 points. They held a 41-24 points production advantage off the bench and held a 65-49 edge in rebounding. Salathiel Dean exploded for a game high 26 points with 16 rebounds with five block shots, three assists and three rebounds to pace the Shockers, coached by James Price.
Bahamian basketball players in 70th NJCAA Tournament By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net WHILE the NCAA Division I Tournament grabs international headlines, several Bahamian players competed this week at the Junior College Division I Tournament. The 70th edition of National Junior College Athletic Association tournament began on Monday at the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas. • Daejour Adderley and his San Jacinto-Central Ravens are the top overall seed in the tournament and received an automatic bye to yesterday’s second round. It was their 21st appearance in school history. They faced either No. 16 Spartansburg Community College (South Caro-
DAEJOUR-ADDERLEY
SEBASTIAN GRAY
ROBERT JOSEPH
KALEEL SOLOMON
lina) or No. 17 Connors State (Oklahoma). San Jac earned the automatic bid to the national tournament after they won the Region XIV championship. • Sebastian Gray and Robert Joseph were the first Bahamian players to hit the court in the tournament
and led the No.23 ranked Northern Oklahoma-Enid Jets to an opening round upset win. The Jets scored a 95-90 win over No.10 Southern Idaho Golden Eagles. Gray finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots while Joseph added two points off the
bench. They will advance to face the Vinciennes Trailblazers, ranked No.7 in the bracket. • Latrell Poitier and the No.13 St. Petersburg Titans also advanced with a 70-55 win over No.20 Highland. Poitier finished with two points and one assist.
• Kaleel Solomon and his No. 6 ranked Eastern Florida St Titans will have to wait until today for their first game of the tournament after they also received a bye into the second round. It is the third straight season the programme advanced to the tournament. The Ti-
tans received an at-large bid after finishing runner-up in the Region VIII Tournament. They come into the tournament 28-5 and are 8-2 in the past 10 games and has five wins against teams in the tournament. Each season, over 200 NJCAA Division I men’s basketball teams take aim towards the ultimate prize - a trip to Hutchinson, Kansas, for a chance to compete for a national championship. The 2017 season marks the 70th NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship - known as The Tournament. NJCAA Division I men’s basketball is comprised of 16 districts across the country and the champion of each district receives an automatic bid to The Tournament, which is a 24-team, single-elimination championship.