By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net    

With their ninth Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic title in hand, the Tabernacle Baptist Academy Falcons returned to Grand Bahama yesterday to a grand celebration at the Grand Bahama International Airport.

“It was great. Grand Bahama came out and supported us,” said Falcons’ head coach Kevin Clarke on their return home after they nipped the CI Gibson Rattlers 89-87 in overtime at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium on Monday night.

“The whole school, the community and all the media houses in Grand Bahama came out to support us. It was just great to bring the trophy back to Grand Bahama.”

With Tabernacle Baptist’s cheerleaders and junkanoo group on hand, Clarke said they made his Falcons feel “so special.” 

He called it a “crazy experience” because he knew if “Tabernacle wasn’t going to do it, they would not do it at all.”

“They got everybody in the community to comer out and support us and they surely did that.”

For those who couldn’t make the trip to New Providence, they watched as Dylan Morris scored 22 points with nine rebounds and four assists; Claudius Burrows scored 18 points with eight rebounds; 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. 

Now that they are back home, Clarke said Tabernacle Baptist Academy is planning a week-long celebrations for the Falcons in pushing their Hugh Campbell dynasty to nine in total, the most by any participating school in the history of 41-year-old tournament.

Looking back at the performances from Monday night as he picked up his third title as head coach, Clarke said he was elated because its been a long season with a lot of “ups and downs” for his Falcons.

“It didn’t start of very well, but we ended up peaking at the right time,” said Clarke, whose Falcons had to rebound from a 17-point deficit in the first quarter to prevail over the Rattlers.

“In the first quarter, we knew that CI Gibson was going to come at us and punch us in the mouth and try to take our nerves and try to take our heart out. But I told the players we just have to withstand whatever they throw at us and if we do that, we will be alright.”

Despite the fact that they didn’t rebound the ball as well as they should in the first half, while giving up a lot of second chance points, Clarke said they were able to dig out of the hole that was created.

“At the half, I told the guys we will make some adjustments in the second half,” Clarke reflected. “We went man to man and that ended working for us as we cut the lead down to two at the end of the third.

“Then it was a back-and-forth game throughout the fourth quarter. There were some controversial calls down the stretch. but the game went into overtime and we were able to withstand everything that they threw at us and we came out with the victory.”

Clarke, a former player who took over from Norris Bain, the original coach of the Falcons in their first six victories, said although they get all of the credit and the accolades, but none of their achievement would be possible without the players displaying their skills.

“I’m just supper happy for my kids, I’m super happy for my school and the support that we have from the community,” Clarke said. “But I’m also super happy for my family because a lot of people don’t know, but being a head coach of an elite basketball program takes away a lot of your time from your family.

“You better have a good support system and I definitely do have that so I’m just happy all round, especially with my support system, but I’m happy with my kids all around.”

On the all-time list of accomplishments for the tournament, Bain, now the Assistant Director of Sports at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, was tied with CI Gibson’s coach Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson for the most wins.

But even after they relinquished their lead to the Falcons, Johnson knew that his Rattlers were going to be in for a dog fight right until the final whistle sounded on Monday night.

“At the end of the day, we didn’t take care of the basketball down the stretch. Tabernacle wanted it more. They fought. They got all of the loose balls They got all the 50-50 balls and we ended losing by two in overtime.

“So, hats off to them. Hats off to their program. We’re are going to prepare because we’re still a very young team with 14 and 15-year-old guys. So we have to get them back into the lab and working on their game for next season.”

After avenging their Government Secondary Schools Sports Association’s championship to the Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves to get to the final of the tournament, Johnson said destiny just wasn’t on their side for the seventh heaven Hugh Campbell title.

“But getting. title don’t define Kevin Johnson, It’s about these young men, understanding the importance of putting God first in their lives and the importance of getting a good education so that th4y can play college basketball f trusting the system that we court them in to be successful,” Johnson stated.

“That’s what it’s all about. If we win the championship to God be the glory. If not, we still give God the glory. We will continue to work hard and do our best and try to continue to have the success that we have through the game of basketball with these young men.”

Like the end of every season, Johnson said “win, lose or draw,” the goal is to get ready for the next season.

“Our goal is to get back to the GSSSA championship and win the title we lost to Anatol,” Johnson stressed. “Our goal then is to get back to the Hugh Campbell championship and see if we can win it.”

There is some talk about the hosting of a national high school basketball championship and if there is one, Johnson said they would look to taste some “thrill of victory,” but if they don’t, they will look ahead to 2026.

In the meantime, let the celebrations continue for the Falcons, who added the Hugh Campbell crown to the Grand Bahama title they won over the Sunland Baptist Stingers, the same team they met in the tournament’s semifinals to get to the big dance.

Clarke called it “cutting a movie” about their celebrations in Grand Bahama. Whatever it was, they deserve to be featured all over social media for a job well done.