By BRENT STUBBS 

Chief Sports Editor 

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE 41st Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic ended last night at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium with the Tabernacle Baptist Academy Falcons taking their ninth title back to Grand Bahama.

The Falcons, coached by Kevin Clarke, did it with an 89-87 overtime victory over the CI Gibson Rattlers after Dylan Morris hit a jumper with 9.7 seconds to put an exclamation mark on the final score in the game.

The Rattlers, coached by Kevin “KJ” Johnson, fell short in the final bid just before the final buzzer.

In the final analysis, Dylan Morris had 22 points with nine rebounds and four assists, Claudius Burrows came off the bench and scored 18 points with eight rebounds, and Gianno Murray had 16 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals. Anthony Missick had 15 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and two steals, Jaquan Rolle had nine points and eight rebounds and Jarius Hall chipped in with seven points, nine assists, eight rebounds and three steals.

For CI Gibson, Tashon Butler scored 27 points with four steals and three rebounds, Condae Smith had 26 points, nine rebounds, four steals and two assists and Darius Hanna added 15 points with four rebounds and two assists.

The game could have gone either way as Ralph Legiste came off the bench and sank two consecutive jumpers to push the Falcons up 87-85.

But with 15 seconds left, Melvens Simons, who also came off the bench for the Rattlers, hit a pair of free throws for an 87-87 tie.

However, the drama unfolded down the stretch as Tabernacle went on to celebrate.

Both teams came into the game with perfect 3-0 win- loss records.

The Rattlers advanced to the final with a 66-58 avenged victory over the GSSSA champions Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves in Sunday’s semifinals, while the Falcons held off their GBSSA’s arch-rivals Sunland Baptist Stingers 59-55.

History making Tabernacle Baptist captured its first title in 1995 and repeated in 1996 under coach Norris Bain. They regained the title in 2000 and went on another two-peat in 2009 and 2010.

After taking over the coaching reigns from his mentor, Bain, former player and assistant coach Kevin Clarke went on to ink his name as he added his third title to his two-peat as the head coach in 2017 and 2018.

Here’s how the game unfolded in front of a fairly good crowd that included Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, Minister of Housing and Urban Renewal Keith Bell and Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg, a former player and coach who won four titles with the CC Sweeting Cobras with two repeats in 2012-2013 and 2015-2016. In the fourth quarter, Tabernacle took their first lead of the game as they surged ahead 52-48 with a quick 6-2 run to start the fourth that was ended up with a two-handed slam dunk by Morris. After a CI Gibson time-out, Morris drilled another dunk for a 54-48 lead in the first three minutes.

On a run of their own, Butler connected on five straight points, including a steal and lay-up, a free throw and another steal and lay-up for a 57-57 tie for the Rattlers with 4:06 left on the clock.

Before fouling out, Jaquan Rolle hit three free throws for a 61-57 lead for the Falcons. But with 1:59 left, Smith hit two free throws for a 65-61 deficit. He came back and converted a three-point play for a 67-64 deficit with 1:25 on the clock.

With 55 seconds on the clock, Morris got a slam dunk for a Tabernacle Baptist 69-64 lead, but Smith came back and drove inside for a lay-up for a 69-66 deficit for CI Gibson with 50 seconds remaining.

On a foul with 31.7 seconds to go, Smith was fouled, canned a pair of charity shots to trim the deficit to 69-68.

Then with 12.1 seconds, Claudius Burrows hit one of two free throws for a 73-70 lead for Tabernacle Baptist. And with 8.0 seconds, Smith hit the last of two free throws for a 73-71 deficit for CI Gibson.

With just five seconds left, Rolle got an inbound pass and a lay-up for a 73-73 tie for the Rattlers.

However, the Falcons missed a three-point attempt before the buzzer sounded for the extra four minutes in overtime.

Third quarter

Tabernacle Baptist came out of the half, which featured a performance from the Royal Bahamas Police Force Marching Band, to cut the deficit to 38-33 on a consecutive three-pointer from Gianno Murray, a lay-up from Jarius Hall and a pair of free throws from Anthony Missick.

After Murray hit a three-pointer, Morris put in a lay-up to tie the score at 38-38 for the Falcons with 3:25 left in the period. But Butler hit a pair of free throws and a lay-up for a 46-41 lead for the Rattlers.

And with 3.0 seconds left, Butler drove inside for a lay-up to put CI Gibson up 48-46 after Murray’s jumper with 15 seconds tied the score again at 46-46 at the end of the final break of the keenly contested match-up.

Second quarter

On a steal and a one-handed dunk, the Rattlers opened the period for a 21-8 lead. After Rolle put the Falcons in double figures (22-10) on a three-point play, Hanna connected on his fourth three-pointer to push the Rattlers up 25-10.

Tabernacle Baptist used a 7-0 run, highlighted by three of four free throws from Morris, to trim the deficit to 29-19 with about 1:18 left, forcing CI Gibson to call a time-out. But on goal tending, Butler’s lay-up pushed the Rattlers up 31-19 at the half.

First quarter

Missick opened with a three-pointer for the Falcons and Hanna added another at the other end. He came back on a Tabernacle Baptist turnover to can another trey for CI Gibson for a 6-3 lead.

With 4:49 on the clock, Hanna drilled another three-pointer to push the Rattlers ahead 11-3, forcing the Falcons to call a time-out. Missick responded with his second three-pointer for an 11-6 deficit.

Sparked by Smith’s steal and one-handed dunk, a jumper, a pair of free throws and a baseline jumper, CI Gibson surged out to a 17-8 lead at the end of the period.

Falling short

CI Gibson and coach Kevin Johnson were going for their seventh title. They clinched their first title in 2002. After relinquishing their crown in 2003 to the Catholic High Crusaders, coached by Charlie ‘Softly’ Robins, in 2005, Johnson and his Rattlers reeled off the second three-peat in the tournament from 2004-2006.

The first three-peat came from Grand Bahama’s Hawksbill High Hawks, coached by James ‘Jimmy’ Clarke from 1992-1994.

With the title shared around, Johnson recaptured it for CI Gibson in 2014. But after a seven-year drought, Johnson and the Rattlers hoisted the title again last year.

In repeating as champions last year, CI Gibson became the eighth team to capture two straight. The others were the host AF Adderley Fighting Tigers in 1987 and 1988 when the school was a senior high; Tabernacle Baptist (1995-1996); Tabernacle Baptist (2009-2010); CC Sweeting (2012 and 2013); CC Sweeting (2015 and 2016); Tabernacle Baptist (2017 and 2018) and Sunland Baptist (2020 and 2023) in between the break in the competition because of COVID-19.