By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

FRIDAY night marked the end of the 2024 Bahamas Government Departmental Basketball Association (BGDBA) regular season and now teams will begin their quests to the finals starting tonight at the DW Davis Gymnasium.

Before embarking on their playoff journey, the Nassau Flight Services Ballers took care of business 88-74 against the Police Crimestoppers to emerge as the league’s pennant winners in weekend action. The Solid Rock/E and G Legends also closed out the regular season on a high note, defeating the Bahamas Customs Taxmen 76-72 in their final game of the regular season.

Nassau Flight Services Ballers vs Police Crimestoppers

The Nassau Flight Services Ballers and Police Crimestoppers both came onto the court on a mission to secure the top record in the league and be crowned pennant winners when it was all said and done. 

The BGDBA’s top teams certainly delivered in the crowd-thrilling affair.

Abel Joseph was just one of three Ballers to hit double digits in the narrow win. He was involved in all the action with a game-high 28 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals.

Deonta Tinker also got it going with 23 points, 6 rebounds, 5 dimes and 5 steals.

Lamont McPhee pitched in 19 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists while shooting 7-for-13 from the field on 53.8 per cent and 5-for-7 from deep.

The opening quarter was tightly contested by both basketball teams but the Ballers would claim a 20-16 edge going into the second quarter of play. 

Tehrad Rahming, representing the Ballers, threw down a dunk at the 5:25 mark to give his team a 27-22 lead. However, the lead was short-lived as the Crimestoppers poured in seven straight points to level the score at 29 apiece. 

From that point, both teams exchanged baskets but refused to give their opponents a sizable advantage, leading to the score being tied 39-39 at the halftime break.

Going into the third quarter, the contest was still too close to call. The Crimestoppers tried to pull away after a big three made by Dastyn Baker early in the quarter to shift the score to 45-39.

Despite that, Abel Joseph’s offensive flurry continued and the Ballers were right back in it. The Crimestoppers managed to close out the third period with a slim two-point lead (65-63).

In the fourth quarter it came down to which team wanted it more. The Ballers fell behind by single digits early on but then mounted an insurmountable 14-0 run which translated to a 79-72 advantage with less than 4 minutes remaining in the game. After that portion of the game, the Crimestoppers were unable to recover.

Adam Johnson put up a monster double-double for the Crimestoppers. He bullied his way to a team-high 20 points and a game-high 22 rebounds to pair alongside 5 blocks. Kirklyn Farrington posted 16 points, 5 boards and 3 dimes in the loss.

With the win, the Nassau Flight Services Ballers ended the regular season with a 12-1 win/loss record while the Police Crimestoppers wrapped up with an 11-2 win/loss record for the third spot heading into the postseason.

Solid Rock/ E and G Legends vs Bahamas Customs Taxmen

The Legends utilised efficient shooting to help them get over the hump against the Taxmen on Friday night.

Anton Marshall gave his team a game-high 19 points and 4 rebounds which included five makes from long range.

Raynold Culmer was a monster on the glass all game long. He dropped 13 points and crashed the boards 12 times for a double-double performance.

The Legends opened up the ball game with a bang against the Customs Taxmen. They accelerated ahead of their opponents 30-18 in the first quarter to establish their dominance early on.

Despite the early separation, the Taxmen continued to chip away at the lead and eventually trimmed it down to single digits. 

After trailing by as much as 14 points, Reginald Chisholm drained a three-pointer at the 4:47 mark of the second quarter to bring the deficit down to 9 (38-29). The Taxmen continued to play catch up and pulled within 8 (41-33) at the halftime break.

The Legends came out of the locker rooms determined to run the score back up. Marshall connected on back-to-back bombs from deep to put his team back in charge 47-33.

The pesky Taxmen refused to go down without a fight and trailed 54-52 with one quarter of play remaining. The Taxmen finally saw their efforts pay off with less than one minute on the game clock. Chisholm scored a go-head layup to give Bahamas Customs their first lead of the second half 72-71.

With the game knotted at 72, Kenrio Ingraham made a game-winning layup and Stephen Hall followed it up with two makes at the charity stripe to ice the game.

Chisholm made some big plays down the stretch and ended the loss with 13 points, 11 rebounds and 4 steals.

The BGDBA playoffs begin at 7:30pm tonight with the Nassau Flight Services Ballers against the Real Deal Rangers. The Bahamas Department of Corrections (BDOCS) Challengers will go head-to-head with the Bamboo Shack Patrollers in the second game of tonight’s double header.