BA Stars beaten

By SHELDON LONGLEY

NG Sports Reporter

It's deja vu all over again for the Bahamas Academy Stars.

For the second year in row, the Prince William High Falcons ended the Stars hopes for a perfect season, and for the Stars it came at the worst possible time - again!

The Stars almost came back from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to protect their flawless record last night but a bevy of three pointers by Falcons small forward Davard Martin staved them off in Game One of their Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools championship series.

Martin was a perfect 5-for-5 from behind the three-point line for the game and David McPhee finished 2-for-3 from that distance to lead the Falcons to a stunning 55-52 victory last night at the Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium.

"I knew that we could beat this team had we stuck to our game plan. We stuck to the 1-3-1 defence and they had problems with that all night," said Falcons head coach Dexter Cambridge.

"Davard is a big time player and I knew that all along. He stepped up and showed his leadership tonight and I hope he continues it for the rest of the series. He is a shooter and he has been shooting all year. He came out tonight on fire and I wasn't surprised at all that he was hitting those shots," added Cambridge.

In case the Stars forgot, the Falcons reminded them in a harsh way last night that they are the defending champions and they proved that will not relinquish their title without a fight.

In pulling off the biggest upset of the year, they finished what the St. John's College Giants started last week as the Stars crumbled under pressure and turned in their second sub-par performance in as many games.

"You have to remember that these guys are children and there is pressure on them. How quickly they respond to that pressure depends on them," said Stars head coach Vince Symonette. "Some of them are not carrying out the instructions that they were given and that is what it all boils down to.

"Our mission this year is to win a championship and we have to bounce back in Game Two if we want to do that. In order to win the championship we have to win the next two games and we are going to give it our best shot," he added.

Last year the Stars won Game One of the championship series before losing their first two games of the year to lose the title to the Falcons. If they are going to finally win a senior boys title for their school this year, they will have to turn the tables on their private school foes starting with Game Two Wednesday.

The biggest star of all, Portland 'Mitch' Bain got into early foul trouble and wasn't a factor at all for the entire game. Bain finished with just four points as he and his teammates were buried in an offensive onslaught of Falcon treys and they never recovered.

"Those fouls really hurt us early on. It isn't really disappointing. That is just our first loss of the season and we want to rebound and win a championship. They don't have a jinx on us - we just didn't play like we wanted to win," Bain said.

Still Bain had an opportunity to tie the game in the final seconds but his three point attempt fell short to conclude a miserable shooting night for him.

Terrance Brown and Trevino Carey tried to bring the Stars back in the fourth quarter but the cushion provide by Martin treys early on proved to large to overcome. Brown had 11 of his side high 18 points in the fourth quarter and Carey had a few steals and contributed five of his seven points there but it was too little too late for them.

After working so hard in establishing a huge lead through three and half quarters, the Falcons weren't prepared to blow it but they almost did. The Falcons missed nine free shots in the final period but they held on nonetheless.

"Free shots are very important and if we continue missing free shots at the end of the game we won't be successful," said Falcons coach Cambridge.

"The game could have easily gone the other way because we weren't hitting our free shots," he added.

Martin, who scored a game high 19 points, set the tone of the game from the opening stanza when he knocked down three of his treys in that quarter.

"I started off good and I just wanted to finish that way," Martin said.

"I was practicing my shot before the game started and it really felt good so I knew that I was going to have a big shooting night. We don't want this series to go to three games so we will try to take them out on Wednesday," he added.

Despite Martin's treys in the first quarter, the Stars were still able to stay close thanks to David Fox who powered in eight first quarter points. Fox finished with just 12 points though, as the Stars stopped going to him in the post. Larnelle Johnson had six points for the Stars and Clyde Beckford added four.

"It comes down to instructions. As a coach, I could give instructions but the players have to execute those instructions," said Stars coach Symonette.

"I'm not criticizing what they do. They are children and people put too much pressure on them to win. Our focus is to develop them and once we do that, I am comfortable with whatever they do," he added.

Behind Martin's game high, McPhee added 12 points for the Falcons, Travis Smith scored nine, Rashad McKenzie dropped in seven and Niketo Edgecombe added six.

The Falcons led 18-12 after the first period and 33-25 at the half. Martin continued to have the hot hand as the second half got underway and his teammates got in on the act to create more distance between themselves and the bewildered Stars.

The Falcons lead reached a whopping 15 points in the final quarter before the Stars orchestrated a frantic rally which barely fell short. Bain, who sat out most of the fourth quarter in foul trouble, re-entered the game with three minutes remaining and tried to be the saviour for his team.

However, it was Brown and Carey who shouldered most of the offensive load down the stretch.

"He got into foul trouble and we were happy for that. A part of our game plan was to attack those guys and make them play up on us," Falcons coach Cambridge said.

"I know that they will be back but we are coming out to put them away. We have to continue doing what we did tonight though. We have to step up, protect the lane and force them to shoot from the outside," he added.

At one point in the fourth quarter the Stars scored eight straight points to cut the Falcons lead to seven points, 47-40, and give them some hope heading into the final five minutes of play.

After the Falcons broke the streak, a break away two-handed emphatic dunk by Brown and a steal and lay-up by Carey pulled the Stars to within five points. They never got any closer until Bain scored in the lane with 40.6 seconds remaining.

Martin dropped in one of two free shots but Brown sliced through the lane for a lay-up with 17 seconds left to pull the Stars within three points, 55-52.

McPhee was immediately fouled on the next play and missed two free shots for the Falcons but Bain's attempted three point shot in the final seconds fell short.

"The game is played between the lines and it comes down to who wants the game the most," said Stars head coach Symonette.

"We played in the fourth quarter and in the next three quarters, we didn't play. You can see what happened when we got everyone on the same page and hopefully we can do that in the next game," he added.

Caption: FOUL - Prince William Falcons Davard Martin fouls Bahamas Academy Stars Terrace Brown during Game One of the BAISS senior boys basketball finals on Monday the at the Kendal Issacs Gym. Staff Photo by Donald Knowles

Posted: Tuesday February 10, 2004