SPORTS SECTION E
NFL
Monday, Page 5
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2017
Ayton posts double double in Wildcats’ win By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net nother exhibition game, another big time double double for DeAndre Ayton as he led the Arizona Wildcats to another win. The freshman forward finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds in the Wildcats’ 91-53 win over Chico State on Sunday at the McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona. He shot 6-9 from the field, made his only three-point attempt, was a perfect 8-8 from the line and added three assists in just 26 minutes. “We work on defensive rotations a lot in practice, defence is first for coach Miller so this is what we do, I can guard any position. I like shooting, I’m very comfortable, I want to be a versatile player for the next level. They were doubling the post and I just saw it coming from a mile away.
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Arizona took a 13-0 lead from the opening tipoff and led by as much as 39 points. Junior guard Allonzo Trier finished with a team high 22 points and said Ayton has been a quick study learning the team’s concepts as a freshman. “He’s intelligent, he’s listening to everything coach asks him to do, he has the Godgiven talent to make up for a lot of things as well so it’s not hard for him to be able to grasp what we’re trying to do and to be very good at it as well,” he said. ESPN recently ranked their projection of the top 50 players in college basketball with Ayton listed at No.12. Wildcats head coach Sean Miller said Ayton’s versatility on both sides of the floor is a catalyst for the performance of the entire team. “It’s not easy at 7-foot, 260 pounds to move like he moves on the court and a lot of guys his size will only play the five so they’ll only guard centres. The way we are
DEANDRE AYTON playing I think it will really help his development and give our team a different look. He gets to guard
the other team’s four at times. So we’re asking him as a freshman to guard guys that are 6’5” or 6’6” who can really shoot the three. “I think the more you challenge him I think the more he’ll grow and with his growth defensively I think he’ll give our team good characteristics,” Miller said. “He’s a very good three-point shooter, he’s also a very good free throw shooter. We watch it everyday so what he does in games is pretty much what you see on a daily basis. He’s a very good player, that speaks for itself. He’s a very good teammate, he’s a very hard worker, he’s bright and for somebody as talented as he is it’s very fun to watch him play the game and be as intelligent as he is. That becomes contagious too. When that guy makes the right play and is unselfish it’s difficult for anyone else to deviate.” Arizona is scheduled to face Northern Arizona 7pm Friday at the McKale Center as the regular season officially tips off.
Oldtimers: Divers advance to best-of-7 championship series WHEN the New Providence Oldtimers Softball Association’s best-of-seven championship series gets underway this weekend in the Archdeacon William Thompson Park at the Southern Recreation Grounds, the Quality Home Center Divers will be waiting on the Sharks. The Divers, third finishers in the regular season with a 12-9 winloss record, are confident that they have the team capable of going all the way and winning their first championship title, despite all that they went through this year. They have a tall order in the Sharks, the three-time defending champions who won the pennant this year and advanced to the final over the weekend. “This has been an extremely challenging year for the Divers, with a number of injuries to key players, and the death of our beloved teammate Alec,” team manager Robert Cox said. “But the team has stuck together and was determined to break the cycle of another season without making it to the championship.
TITLE HOPES: The Quality Home Center Divers will be waiting on the Sharks when the New Providence Oldtimers Softball Association’s best-of-7 championship series gets underway this weekend in the Archdeacon William Thompson Park at the Southern Recreation Grounds. “After being so close for a number of years and facing numerous obstacles, I am very proud of the guys and appreciative of our sponsor, Quality Home Centre, who has supported us throughout the years.
“Now, the goal is to finish the season by winning the championship.” Cox, assisted by coaches Hiram Cox, Sherwin Johnson and Jayson Clarke, have a team made up of players such as Kervin ‘Puckett’
Culmer, Charlie Gaitor, Ron Demeritte, Bacchus Rolle, Stevie Bellot, Julian Seymour, Emile Ledee, Philip Paul, Patrick Lockhart, Todd Isaacs, Julius Seymour, Dwight Butler, Keith Richards and Tyrone Brown.
‘LET’S SWIM BAHAMAS’ IN 25-METRE POOL AT UB By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net WITH a $135,000 renovation project finished, the ‘Let’s Swim Bahamas’ programme is all set to make its splash into the new pool on the campus of the University of the Bahamas. UM president Dr Rodney Smith, ‘Let’s Swim Bahamas’ co-founder Andy Knowles and Reginald Saunders, the under secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, officially opened the eight-lane, 25-metre pool in a brief ceremony yesterday. Knowles and his wife Nancy, who started the ‘Let’s Swim Bahamas’ programme a decade ago at St Andrew’s School, said their goal remains the same and that is to teach as many primary school students as they can to swim. “We are trying to expand to include all of the primary schools,” said Andy Knowles, who has given up his coaching duties with Swift swimming to devote more time to the learn-toswim programme. “We had an opportunity to come here and to look at the existing pool and realised that there was a lot of renovations that needed to take place. So we decided to get the pool done so that we can accommodate the five primary schools in this area.” Through corporate Bahamas and a private financial donor, Knowles said their ‘Let’s Swim Bahamas’ Foundation was able to rise the necessary funding to cover all of the expenses for the renovations. He said they have made an arrangement with UB to allow them to use the pool to host the teaching lessons, which will be for at least one hour per day for each of the schools. He also expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of
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Franco’s Crestwood Prep debut just as good as advertised By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net FRANCO Miller’s Crestwood
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Prep debut was just as good as advertised. The highly sought after recruit for the class of 2018 is spending this season at the prep school in Toronto, Canada, before he makes the leap to the collegiate ranks and was a high scoring team leader in their first preseason tournament. Miller averaged over 20 points per game and led Crestwood to a 3-1 finish at the Father Henry Carr Early Bird Classic. He opened with 22 points in a win over Thornlea Prep and followed with 21 points in another win over the Central Tech Blues. The 6’2” guard spent much of the summer playing under coach Ro Russell for the Grass Roots Elite Club where his performance on the AAU circuit garnered
offers from sevMiller’s play on eral Division I the AAU circuit programmes. has attracted offiRussell was cial offers from hired to head the Montana State programme at University, the UniCrestwood in 2016 versity of Wyoming, and Miller followed St Bonaventure suit. University and the Crestwood will University of Illimake its transition nois at Chicago. this year into the There are also National Preparaseveral other protory Association for grammes that have the 2017-18 season. expressed interest. The programme His most FRANCO MILLER will be tested right noteworthy perforaway as Crestwood mance came at the will compete in the Southeast Fab 48 Invitational in Las Vegas, Division against powerhouse Nevada, in July where he averprogrammes such as St Michael’s aged over 20 points per game College, Toronto Basketball with Russell’s Grass Roots Elite Academy, and Central Tech Prep. Club. In a 77-71 loss to BTI Select
he scored 23 points, added five rebounds, two assists and three steals. He also had 22 points, five assists, four rebounds in a 74-70 win over the Simply Fundamental Basketball Club. At the local level with the Tabernacle Baptist Falcons, Miller had a season filled with accolades highlighted when he was named as the Most Valuable Player of the 34th Annual Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic. His 27 points led the Falcons to a 58-52 win over the CI Gibson Rattlers. He also led the Falcons to a Grand Bahama Secondary Schools Sports Association senior boys’ title and finished as runners-up in the second annual Bahamas National High School Basketball Championships.