By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Government Secondary Schools Sports Association champions CI Gibson Rattlers and the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools champions Charles W Saunders Cougars will headline the teams leaving town for Grand Bahama this weekend.

They will be a part of the field participating in the top-notch field of teams participating in the Island Cares Foundation-sponsored Best of the Best Basketball Cup, which has been sanctioned by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.

The event, which will also feature a senior girls’ division, will get underway today at the St George’s Gymnasium in Freeport and will wrap up on Monday when the championship game will be played.

Joining the Rattlers and the Cougars from New Providence are the Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves and the CC Sweeting Cobras, representing Grand Bahama are the Sunland Baptist Stingers, Tabernacle Falcons, St George’s Jaguars and the Gateway Academy Eagles.

Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson, coach of the Rattlers, said despite coming off their championship win over Sunland Baptist during the finals of the prestigious Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic last month, they know they will have their hands full against their rivals in the tournament.

“I think the momentum died down a little bit. We have not been practicing like that. We only started practicing last week to travel.

“We are definitely looking forward to it and going over there to win it. The guys just must go out there and play.”

It’s all about preparing yourself and being ready. Basketball is different stages when we play.

“We just have to be focused as a team,” Johnson said. “You can get beat any night, but once you prepare yourselves, you can give yourself a chance,” Johnson said.

“We have a mission and once we follow that plan, we will be alright.

“We are the hunted, so we have to step up and do what we have to do as a team,” Johnson said.

As for the tournament, Johnson said he had his reservations about it, but the organisers put a lot into it, “so we just have to go to Grand Bahama and do what they have to do.

“We are ready to perform,” he said. “We are going to represent and perform. Our first is against Gateway. Once we do that, we will face the winner of Anatol and St George’s, who we saw and we played, so we have to be ready for that and go from there and keep moving on.”

Sunland is the top ranked team coming out of Grand Bahama and coach Jay Philippe said his Stingers will be ready to compete at a high level.

“We didn’t win the Hugh Campbell title after making it to the final for the third year in a row and falling short of a three-peat,” he said. “But we’re hoping to win this tournament.

“We’ve been practicing for the past two weeks and we made some adjustments to our regular routine style of play, so we’re looking forward to competing against the Best of the Best teams in the tournament and in the country. We won’t step on the court unless we think we can win. That’s our expectations.”

After the Ministry of Education’s National Championships was halted in 2019, Philippe said his team and the rest of the teams in Grand Bahama looked forward to the return of a tournament of this nature. “This is a small sample of the nationals where we have some of the best teams participating, so we’re glad of this opportunity to compete,” he said. “After the loss in Hugh Campbell, we thought our season had ended, but it’s now extended and we can get another chance to end the season with another chance to win a title, we will go out there and give it our best shot.”

If there’s any team to be concerned about, Philippe said it’s CI Gibson.

“We knew they had a really good team, but until we got a chance to play them in the final, we found out how really good they are,” he said. “But with the seeding in this tournament, they are number one and we are number two.” “So we look forward to the semifinal match-up, hopefully against Tabernacle. Not overlooking any other teams, but if we can get past them and CI Gibson get through, we can look forward to the rematch. I can’t say it will be a different outcome but I know it’s going to be something to watch when we face them again.”

The Cougars, according to head coach Dario Seymour, is looking forward to redeeming themselves after getting knocked out of the quarterfinals of the Hugh Campbell Classic after repeating as the BAISS champions.

“What I told my team is that this is the best of the best and there aren’t any bad teams in the tournament,” Seymour said.

“If you don’t go with your A-game, you will get beat. So just getting them to that mentality, I think my team is prepared.”

After their exit from the Hugh Campbell Classic against St George’s, Seymour said they had to work on their transition game, which he felt they have been able to work on.

“We’re the only private school competing from New Providence, so we’re going to try to represent the private school brand very well,” Seymour stated.

“We are up to the challenge and we are going to go over there and do our best.”

Charles W Saunders is scheduled to open play tonight against Tabernacle.