By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

EXCEPT for the constant interruption to wipe the moisture off the floor inside the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium, the second Hoopfest in Paradise turned out to be a real treat for both local and high school basketball players from the United States of America.

Not only did organiser Glenn Smith bring in six boys’ teams to go along with an all-star team from both the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association and the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools, who competed for the first time, there were four girls’ teams that made the trip here from the USA to compete in the initial segment for girls.

“The event went very well over the two days, but unfortunately the weather wasn’t the way we wanted it and it created some problems inside the gym because of the rain,” Smith said.

“But we still had some real high level basketball competition over the two days.

So I am really happy with the top tier competition that we brought down. I felt they played very well, despite the odds they had to deal with.”

While the games were completed as scheduled on Friday, the games on Saturday had to be delayed as the crew of volunteers had to wipe the floor from the leaky roof that made it difficult at times to play.

Smith lamented that they wanted to provide another dimension to the tournament and they accomplished that goal with the introduction of the girls’ games that featured one of ESPN’s 5-star players in the United States in 6-foot, 1-inch wing Kennedy Smith from Etiwanda.

Smith poured in 19 points as Etiwanda won their opener 75-65 over Lake Highland Prep out of Florida.

In the other game on Friday, Lutheran out of New York won 70-46 over Desoto out of Texas.

On Saturday, Desoto won 90-61 over Lake Highland and Lutheran held off Etiwanda 55-52, despite Smith’s 22 points.

“I really enjoyed the girls’ games,” he said. “I actually think some of the girls’ games were better than some of the boys’ games because they were high level. They didn’t have the dunks and stuff, but their skill level was just as high as the boys.”

As for the icing on the cake, Smith said he was impressed with Valdez ‘VJ’ Edgecombe Jr, who led the Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School Crusaders out of Brookville, New York to an 81-68 win over Mater Del out of California on Friday and an 83-50 win over Riviera Prep out of Florida.

“It was good to have him here at home,” Smith said. “He was excited about playing at home because he never got the chance to play as one of the top ranked players in the United States.”

Edgecombe Jr’s coach John Buck, who is in his 15th year as the Crusaders’ coach, said despite the rain, they are just grateful to Smith for affording their team to showcase Edgecombe Jr and his team-mates to some high level competition.

“We saw some really good teams down here. They provided us with so much resistance,” Buck said. “When you are trying to shoot for excellence, you get into the mindset of all the things you need to do better.

“But some things you need to step back and say I think we played hard, we competed and although we have some technical things to improve upon, I think overall, we had some really good games.”

The Crusaders also featured Kiyan Anthony, the son of former NBA star Carmelo Anthony and his ex-wife La La Anthony, the former MTV veejay, who were both in attendance at the games.

The tournament drew the attention of another former NBA player in Jermaine O’Neil, who played 18 seasons before he ventured into coaching the Dynamic Prep out of Irving, Texas.

O’Neil, back in town 18 years after he came here for his wedding to his wife, Mesha, in 2005, said it was a good experience.

“The Bahamas is definitely one of the best destinations in the world. I got married down here, so I always enjoy coming down here and to see the development of sports here, so it was an amazing opportunity for us,” he said.

After losing their first game on Friday by two points to Link Academy 71-69, O’Neil’s Dynamic Prep came back on Saturday and took it out on the BAISS All-Stars with an 81-31 massacre.

“We let one go after being up eight. It was a good learning experience, playing against one of the better teams in the United States,” O’Neil said.

“They responded today (Saturday) and had a big win. But it’s a learning experience, taking it one day at a time.”

As for playing against the Bahamas, O’Neil said it was good to see the level of talent here.

“I think that is what makes this game so special. The game is international and we’ve seen the Bahamian players playing in high school, college and in the NBA, so with the history you have, it was good to see the level of talent here. It was a good experience.”

Dario Burrows, who coached the BAISS All- Stars, said it was more about execution for his players after they were blown away by 40 by Dynamic Prep in their second game played in the tournament on Saturday.

“When you look at the team from the United States, they were more fundamentally sound. Our kids here play more of a running game. They only have one speed,” he said. “So to get them to cruise, they don’t know how to balance the floor.

“But that is something that we as coaches have to work on. At the end of the tournament, the players told me ‘coach, it’s this easy?’ I said yes. It’s just a matter of putting the structure in place to get it to work.”

Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson, who coached the GSSSA All- Stars to a 61-52 win over the BAISS All-Stars on Friday, came back and lost 72-39 to Link Academy.

Johnson, however, joined Burrows in calling it a great opportunity for the local players to get the exposure.

“It shows us the level that we are at and what we need to do to build our country,” he said. “I think we have the ability to compete against these teams. We just have to put in the work.

“This team we played was much bigger than we were and they controlled the boards. I think if we could have knocked down more of our shots, we would have been in the game. But hats off to my guys. They played extremely well. We were just out-matched by a much bigger and better team.”

As he looks ahead to the third year in 2024, Smith said they intend to fine tune a few things and there’s the possibility of increasing the number of teams coming in.

But if they do or don’t, he said the fans can definitely look forward to watching some high-level competition again, hopefully without the interruption from cleaning up the moisture off the court.