By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ELVIS Johnson hit the biggest shot of the game and his backcourt mate Keanu Rolle added the final dagger as the CR Walker Knights escaped with a 60-58 overtime victory over the St Anne’s Bluewaves.

The win highlighted the first session of day one of the week-long Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic for senior boys basketball teams at the AF Adderley Gymnasium yesterday.

In the other two games played in the private versus government schools match-up, the RM Bailey Pacers held off the Aquinas College Aces 45-43 and the CV Bethel Stingrays prevailed with s 47-28 rout over the Charles W Saunders Cougars.

Knights 60, Bluewaves 58

With the game tied 49-49 at the end of regulation, Johnson came up with seven points, including the three-pointer with 11.3 seconds left as the Knights rebounded from a 58-56 deficit, With 7.0 seconds left, Rolle iced the last of his two free throws to secure the hard fought win.

“It wasn’t impressive, but I will take the win anyway,” said CR WAlker’s coach Trevor Grant. “The guys never got their composure throughout the whole game. St Anne’s got their composure from the beginning of the game.

“We never played CR Walker ball at all this game. We just traded buckets, we go up, they go up, then we were down and we went into the overtime. It wasn’t CR Walker ball. We were playing St Anne’s ball straight through.”

Grant admitted that after getting suspended from the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association, his Knights were a little rusty because they didn’t have a chance to scrimmage, just practice.

“We haven’t played a game in over six weeks. We were just practicing, but they have to suck it up. We can’t just cry over spilled milk,” he said. “That’s behind us now. We just have to go on and continue playing.”

Today when they go back to practice, Grant said it will be intense because every shot they make, they will have to run. It’s a good thing he didn’t implement that strategy in the game.

Nevertheless, the Knights got a game high 25 points with five rebounds from Marcian Higgins, Elvis Johnson finished with 12 points and four rebounds, Cormardo Seymour had 10 points and 20 rebounds and Keanu Rolle helped out with seven points, four rebounds and three assists.

For the Bluewaves, Jeremy King scored 21 points with nine rebounds, Alonzo Minnis had 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals and Ashton Knowles added 10 points.

St Anne’s coach Chercovie Wells said it was a bitter pill to swallow after the loss.

“I think free throws was our real problem. If we had hit the two free throws at the end of regulation, it would have been a different game all together,” he said.

In between their next game, Wells said they intend to work on their press breaker and their free throws, the two major factors for their defeat in game one.

Stingrays 47, Cougars 28

This was one was pretty much over before it really got started.

CV Bethel held a slim 10-6 lead after the first quarter, but extended it to 26-9 at the half. By the time they reached the end of the third, the margin was increased to 44-18.

“I think we played fairly well. We could play much better than what we played, but we didn’t really put a pressure press on them,” said Stingrays’ coach Thurment Johnson. “We just passed the ball around and got our offence going.”

As the tournament progresses, Johnson said the competition will get tougher so he will be looking for his players to step their game up a notch. If they can do that, he is convinced that CV Bethel will go deep in the tournament.

Janeldo Joseph scored 14 points with eight rebounds to lead the Stingrays. Adam Johnson had eight points and eight rebounds and Martin Conliffe added six points.

In a losing effort, Daniel Hall scored 13 points and Shakur Rolle had eight.

Charles W Saunders was also outrebounded 50-27, but they only made two more turnovers 20-18, despite CV Bethel pulling off the huge victory.

Pacers 45, Aces 43

It was one of those games that could have gone either way, but RM Bailey wanted it a little bit more and it showed down the stretch as they took better care of the ball to hold on for the win.

“It was not the best win. We have a lot more to work on in terms of our mental game,” said Pacers’ coach Theodore Hanna. “Today, we just got a bit slack and a bit relaxed.”

Hanna, however, said he prays that his Pacers are over the jitters and they can play with a lot more intensity throughout the game so they won’t have to dig down deep like they did in their opener.

Latrel Hinsey was the only player in double figures for RM Bailey with 10 points, five assists and four steals. Samuel Dean followed with nine points, Steffon Augustine had seven points and 10 rebounds and Deangelo Bain added six points.

Aquinas College coach Craig ‘Rambo’ Smith used the junior boys’ team that finished as runners-up to the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine in the BAISS championship last week and it showed with their lack of experience down the stretch.

John Nixon, however, exploded for a game high 37 points with six rebounds. Tahj Moss had eight points and both Dion Brown and Charles Bain added five points.

Today, the Family Island teams are expected to arrive and start playing.

4pm - Abaco Central vs Mt Carmel

5pm - British West Indies vs Queen’s College

6pm - CI Gibson vs Kingsway Academy

7pm - Clement Howell vs Teloes Christian Academy

8pm - Winner game 1 vs Winner game 2

9pm - Winner game 5 vs Winner game 6

The Grand Bahama schools, who have been complaining about the way they are placed in the pools, are expected to start competing on Wednesday.