St. Paul's Baptist held off neighborhood rival Macedonia Baptist to win the Bethel Baptist Association's Youth Department initial basketball tournament that was played at Remnant Ministries last Friday.

The tournament, featuring six churches out of the Bethel Baptist Association, got started in December, but was not completed and so it wrapped up on Friday night. In the championship, St Paul's, behind the Most Valuable Player (MVP) performance from Van Hutchinson Jr, held of Macedonia 20-19. Macedonia was led by DeVontee Gibson.

St. Paul's advanced to the championship by eliminating Remnant Ministries, 29-27, as Jason Cambridge led the attack with five points. The other half of the semi-finals saw Macedonia rout New Covenant, 19-7, as Delano Knowles had eight points in the win.

In the round-robin segment of the tournament, Remnant Tabernacle nipped Macedonia, 26-25; New Covenant clobbered Bethel Baptist, 29-7; St Paul's held of New Mount Zion, 15-14; Macedonia pounded Bethel Baptist, 31-4; Remnant Ministries stunned New Mount Zion, 30-6; and New Covenant held of St. Paul's, 19-18.

Bethel Baptist Youth President Rev. Lavado Duncanson thanked the six churches for participating in the tournament. He also extended his gratitude to Rev. Melvin Grant and the officers and members of Remnant Tabernacle for allowing the organizers to host the tournament in their gymnasium.

The tournament is the first for the association, which hopes to put on more sporting activities as the year progresses, leading into and after the Bethel Baptist Association's Convocation in May in their effort to keep young people in wholesome sporting activities.

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