In the face of adversity last night, the top seeded St. John's College Giants senior boys battled back and fought their way into the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools (BAISS) championship. The pennant-winning Giants outlasted the fourth place Suns, 86-83, at Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium, and will now play either the Queen's College Comets or the St. Augustine's College (SAC) Big Red Machine in the best-of-three championship series. That sudden-death playoff game will be played this evening.
Last night was all about the Giants and Suns, though. With top big man Dwight Wheatley taking a tumble in the fourth quarter, and being forced to sit out the final three minutes, the resilient Giants looked to their backcourt to get the job done, and they responded. The Giants took a 74-72 lead over the upstart Suns on back-to-back steals and lay-ups with 3:27 left to play, but shortly after that Wheatley went down with severe cramps and had to watch the remainder of the game from the bench. That obviously triggered the Suns as they reeled off seven points in a row to take an 81-74 lead with just 1:47 left on the clock.
The Giants still weren't dead yet. They got to within three points on a lay-up and two free shots from leading scorer Aaron Campbell with a little less than a minute left to play. The Giants forced four steals and two quick shots from the Suns in the final minute of the game, and converted lay-ups on the other end. They stormed ahead 84-81 with just 19 seconds remaining to play. Dylan Musgrove brought the Suns to within one with a bucket on the other end, but Campbell buried two free shots with 8.9 seconds to play to give the Giants an 86-83 lead. The Suns senior boys, who were making their first ever playoff appearance in the BAISS, failed to get an open look in the waning seconds, and the Giants celebrated a hard-fought victory.
"It feels great," said Giants' Head Coach Herbie Brown. "First of all, I have to give the Lord thanks and all the glory. Hard work pays off, and I thank the Lord for it. Earlier, we weren't rotating properly on the defensive end, and that almost cost us. We know that we could score, but we have to play defense and rotate properly. We stopped doing that earlier in the game, and that almost cost us tonight."
Prolific scorer Campbell had a game-high 33 points last night. Wheatley contributed 24 before going down in the fourth quarter. The Suns were led by Musgrove with 23 points. Darren Symonette added 12, and Diargo Smith scored nine.
"Coach was preaching heart to us all season long, and that is what carried us through tonight," said Campbell. "I just thank God for the victory. We never second-guessed them, even though we beat them in the regular season. The last two years, we lost under-estimating teams, and there was no way we were going to do that tonight."
The Giants looked like they were going to run the Suns right out of the gym in the first quarter, as they came out of the gate strong, surging ahead by double digits early in the game. The Giants knocked down four three pointers in the opening quarter, and took a 28-15 lead after one. The pesky Suns certainly wouldn't go away, though. As a matter of fact, they came all the way back in the second quarter, taking their first lead of the game at 33-32 on a driving basket by Smith.
The Suns outscored the Giants 25-9 in the second quarter to take a 40-37 lead at the half.
The fearless Suns picked up right where they left off to start the second half. They drove the ball to the basket at will, putting pressure on the Giants' defense. The Suns scored the first six points of the third quarter to take a 46-37 lead. The bewildered Giants were reeling in the other direction. All of a sudden, they couldn't penetrate through the Suns' defense and were giving up too many easy baskets on the other end. The Giants managed to stay within striking distance throughout. They closed the third quarter down just five, 65-60.
The all-important fourth quarter turned out to be a dog fight. The Suns stayed in control, but the Giants kept battling back. With a little over six minutes to play, the Suns increased their lead to double digits for the first time in the game. Though, Wheatley and Campbell wouldn't let the game get away that easily. They drew a number of fouls on the Suns, and even though they only converted about 50 percent of their foul shots, they kept the Giants in the game.
By the 5:33 mark, the Suns were already over the five-foul limit in the quarter, sending the Giants to the free throw line the rest of the way. That would be just the spark the Giants needed as they continued to inch closer. The Giants finally re-took the lead with their back-to-back steals and lay-ups with 3:27 left, but after Wheatley went down, the Suns jumped back in front and were seemingly in control leading by seven with just 1:47 left. It would be the resilient Giants who would execute in the final two minutes.
"It was just a lack of execution of our behalf," said Suns' Head Coach Marcellus Hall. "With 52 seconds left on the clock, had we just worked the shot clock for two possessions, there was no way that they could beat, but we just let this one slip away. I have to try and get my guys ready for Hugh Campbell now, so hopefully they'll utilize this experience, and use it there.
"I was glad to get into the playoffs, but to be honest with you, I felt that we really shouldn't have lost this game tonight. Our guys are young and they are going to make mistakes. Both teams were making mistakes, but the team that made the least amount of mistakes won the game tonight. It's unfortunate, but we'll just have to accept that."
In the junior girls playoff game yesterday, the Kingsway Academy Saints blasted the St. Andrew's Hurricanes, 31-15, behind 12 points from Valencia Demeritte.
The top seeded QC Comets won their junior boys playoff game, 66-31, over the Saints, and SAC dominated Aquinas College in the senior girls playoff game, 32-10.
The BAISS sudden-death playoff games will continue today at Kendal Isaacs gym, as the number two seeded teams will take on the number three seeded teams.

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