By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH the key big men on both teams fouled out, the CI Gibson Rattlers got a 1-2 punch from Lamont Armaly and Kristen Francis to win the Providence Holiday Basketball Classic for the first time since 2008.

While Armaly came up with 11 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter before he too fouled out, it was Francis that carried the Rattlers in the winding two minutes.

Francis contributed five of his 20 as CI Gibson held off the defending champions CC Sweeting Cobras 91-87 on Friday night at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.

"We just had to come back and fight. We fought and we won the game," said Francis, who was named the game's most valuable player. "It's a good feeling to win it."

The fast-paced game was keenly contested with both teams trading the lead as they each made surges at various intervals. But the Cobras struck first by opening a 22-15 first quarter lead and they managed to hold on to a 45-40 margin at the half and just 69-68 after the third period.

It was the fourth quarter that the Rattlers did most of their damage as they turned around their defense and got their offense in high gear.

Tournament organiser Kevin 'KJ' Johnson, who wore a double hat as the head coach of CI Gibson, said although they were down, they never gave up and were able to take control of the game when it counted the most.

"First of all, I want to give God thanks for the opportunity to coach these kids," he stated. "They never stopped fighting. CC Sweeting is a hell of a team, well coached team.

"I know in the GSSSA, we are going to have fun this year. But it was a great tournament. I know a lot of the kids really had a lot of fun this week. Hats off to my guys they wanted it the most."

Not having had a chance to taste the thrill of victory in the eight-year-old tournament since 2008, Johnson said it was good for them to accomplish it again this year.

But in the midst of their celebration, CC Sweeping's coach Mario Bowleg didn't take the agony of defeat in great strides.

Using too much profanity to describe how he felt, he accused the officials, which included a visiting American and a Puerto Rican, along with Christian Wilmore, of "poor .... officiating.

"They were .... cheating. How .... you could have four fellows fouled out in one game. That's .... cheating. The American came here and he .... cheat this game. He called .... the whole game. That's why we couldn't .... stay in the game. How the .... can you have three players in your starting line-up fouled out. That's .... cheating."

Even after he managed to calm down a bit, an irate Bowleg could hardly content his vocabulary as he congratulated the Rattlers, adding that "they played a heel of a game, but those .... referees called real poor. That's the worse officiating I'm ever experienced. It was worse than going to Grand Bahama."

Bowleg was really peeved after his starting center Roosevelt Whylly was fouled out with three minutes and 11 seconds left as they held onto a slim 78-77 advantage.

A minute later, CI Gibson lost their starting center Justin Gardiner to five fouls as well.

But over the next two minutes, Bowleg got even more disgruntled with the officials when two other starters Angelo Lockhart and Dionte Strachan both had to make their exit, along with Deangelo Wallace, who came off the bench.

While Armaly and Francis combined for 42 points to lead the Rattlers, William Rigby helped out with 17 and Alcott Fox added 12. Gardiner finished with six before he left the game.

On the other side of the coin, Elvano Miller, who hit some clutch shots to keep them in the game, had 21, Rashad Davis had 18, Lockhart 16, Strachan 14 and Whylly 10.

In the consolation third place game, the Anatol Timberwolves was a basket better than the visiting Agape High out of Abaco as they pulled off a 57-55 decision behind the 10 points apiece from Jonathan Gordon and Dashawn Dean and nine apiece from Anerio Collie and Najee Lightbourne.

"The guys were kind of flat. The expectations was actually to make it to the championship and not actually be playing for third place," said Anatol's coach Steven Strachan.

"So it was hard getting the guys motivated. But I told them that we went to Abaco and played in Agape's tournament and Agape went to the championship, so I told them that we felt we owe them something. They're not going to take our medals with them. We're going to keep them here."

Despite falling short of their goal of playing in the final, Strachan said they're appreciated of the third place and they're going to ride the momentum into the GSSSA season as they prepare for another bid to put it all together to win a championship title.

Earlier in the day in the semifinal round, CI Gibson prevailed with a 74-60 triumph over Agape and CC Sweeting knocked off Anatol 71-65 to set up the championship and third place matches.

Also in the pool championship final, CI Gibson eliminated San Salvador 67-55; Agape sent the Hugh Campbell and GSSSA champions RM Bailey Pacers packing 59-31; CC Sweeting eliminated the visiting St. George's Jaguars from Grand Bahama 64-45 and Anatol stunned the CR Walker Knights 63-57.

Here's a summary of those games:

Rattlers 74, Agape 60: William Rigby had a huge game with 26 points to carry CI Gibson to a big win over Abaco. Kristen Francis helped out with 11.

Tied at 11-11 at the end of the first quarter and trailing just 29-27 at the half, Agape watched as the game got away from them in the third when they fell behind 53-46.

Basil Johnson had 17 and Jaron Copanish 13 in the loss.

Cobras 71, Timberwolves 65: Elvano Miller canned a game high 21 and Roosevelt Whylly packed it inside for 16 as CC Sweeting in a showdown of two undefeated teams.

The lead sea-sawed throughout the game and it came right down to the wire.

Jonathan Gordon led Anatol with 16, Najee Lightbourne and Verdan Wilson both had 12 and Kyle Wilson 11.

Rattlers 67, Caciques 55: Adney Bethel scored 14, Alcott Fox had 13, William Rigby nine and Lamont Armaly eight as CI Gibson beat San Salvador for the second time in pool play.

Kenton King had a game high 21 for the Caciques, who fell behind 23-9 at the end of the first and never caught up.

Agape 59, Pacers 31: It looked like a typo error, but Abaco took a 51-31 lead at the end of the third and they managed to out-score RM Bailey 9-0 in the fourth to preserve the win.

Godfrey Rolle had a game high 24 points, Oswald Parker 12, Jaron Copanish 10 and Agassi Saunders nine in the win. Lashad Bastian had nine and Majerle Ingraham eight in the loss.

Cobras 64, Jaguars 45: CC Sweeting took a 31-19 advantage at the half and they had St. George's working extra hard to trim the deficit the rest of the way.

Roosevelt Whylly led the Cobras' attack with a game high 14, Dionte Strachan 13, Elvano Miller 12 and Angelo Lockhart nine. Dontae Thompson scored 12, Kendrick Davis nine and Travis Rolle seven in a losing effort.

Timberwolves 63, Knights 57: After falling behind 12-14 at the end of the first quarter, Anatol turned things around in the second quarter for a 27-24 lead and they never relinquished it.

Jonathan Gordan helped to keep Anatol out front with 20 and Najee Lightbourne added 18. Van Hutchinson had his best game of the tournament with a game high 33 and Prince Braynen added 12, but it wasn't enough.