By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net    

EUGENE Horton, president of the Bahamas Basketball Federation, said he was pleased with the national round robin tournament over the weekend.

The tournament returned to New Providence and played from Thursday to Saturday at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium after it was staged in South Andros last year.

“I would like to thank Eleuthera, South Andros, North Andros, Abaco, Grand Bahama and New Providence for attending the national round robin,” Horton said.

“We did it in New Providence to make it affordable for everybody in these tough economic times. I think it was successful and we look forward to next year when we take it to the next level.”

Only three teams participated in the men’s division one play where the Commonwealth Bank Giants out of New Providence had to dig down deep to come back from almost 20 points down in the second quarter to pull off a nail-biting 83-60 victory over the Dudley Boyz Saints from Grand Bahama. Dylan Musgrove was named the most valuable player for the Giants, coached by Perry Thompson Jr, while his team-mate Jacob Jackson was named the most offensive player.

Chauncy Cooper, who played for the third place Crusaders from Abaco, was named the defensive player.

In the men’s division II play, Your Essential Store (YES) Giants dominated the competition, winning the title with a 94-75 rout over the Net Riders.

Matthew Saunders was the MVP and the offensive player of the tournament. His team-mate Javon Adderley was the defensive player.

The Harbour Island Panthers, in sending coach ‘Tiny’ Pinder off into retirement after playing and coaching for 45 years combined, pulled off a 105-75 blowout win over the North & Central Andros Antic Saints.

“The competition was great. From looking at it, everyone was looking forward to it and I liked the way the Family Island teams were eager to come here and play against the New Providence teams,” Horton said.

“Talking to some of my executives, the Family Island teams enjoyed it. So we were very pleased with the way the tournament turned out. We can’t wait for next year’s event. Hopefully we will have more teans participating.”

Last year, Horton watched as the men’s national basketball team, led by the National Basketball Association’s trio of Chavano ‘Buddy’ Hield, DeAndre Ayton and Eric Gordon, along with Valez ‘VJ’ Edgecombe, who will be entering the NBA draft in June, made it to the final game of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in June in Spain.

The men’s national team, according to Horton, is on a roll, but he said  they hope to focus on all of the other programmes including the ladies and junior boys and girls programmes.

“We’re going to look at a four-year plan targeted at getting us to compete in the Olympics,” Horton said. “We came close last year, but we feel we can have a team make it to the Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles.”

If basketball is successful in qualifying, it would be the first team sport to compete in the world’s greatest four-yearly games where the Bahamas has had its share of successes in individual sports.