SPORTS SECTION E
THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2025
Tennis Jrs, Page 7
QC Comets in the lead on day one By TENAJH SWEETING Tribune Sports Reporter tsweeting@tribunemedia.net
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he Queen’s College Comets opened the first day of the 2025 Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools (BAISS) Track and Field Championships in the lead with 427.50 points. The St Augustine’s College (SAC) Big Red Machine, who are the defending champions, are in the second position with 397 points. The Temple Christian School (TCS) Suns are third with 172 points and St Anne’s Blue Waves are tied for fourth with the St John’s College Giants at 68 points apiece.
BLUE WAVES SWIM CLUB INVITE RESULTS – PAGE E6
At BAISS Track & Field Championships Queen’s College head coach Everette Fraser spoke about how it feels to hold the lead going into day two of competition. “It feels great. It feels good with all of the hiccups that we had today. We didn’t execute at all and we had a lot of issues that went down with injuries and false starts. We didn’t execute at all but, at the end of the day, I think the team that executes is the team that is gonna pull this off,” he said. Coach Fraser said the goal is to build on Wednesday’s performances leading up to Friday. “I feel like we have some strong events. We have the 100s tomorrow and we are just trying to get most of our relays into the finals. Our goal is to get all of them in the finals and then go from there but Friday is the day where we are gonna start rocking it,” he said. Day one was highlighted by record-breaking performances, CARIFTA qualifiers and displays of school spirit. On the Field Ahkeel Williams collected a few victories for the Comets on day one. He had a standout performance in the under-15 boys’ javelin throw event, posting a winning mark of 58.43 metres to shatter his previous BAISS record of 44.98m. His schoolmate Justin Shepherd placed second in
allowing me to hit this big goal,” he said. Williams also emerged victorious in the under-15 boys’ high jump event. He soared to 1.64m for first place. Khari Ramsey, of Jordan Prince Williams, placed second and SAC’s Johanan Clarke was third.
WHILE the Baylor men’s basketball team kept rolling against the TCU Horned Frogs on Tuesday night, Bimini native Valdez ‘VJ’ Edgecombe Jr proved why he deserved to make the final cut for the 2025 Jerry West Shooting Guard Award. The Baylor Bears improved to 18-12 (win/loss record) for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball season with their latest 61-58 victory over the TCU Horned Frogs at the Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. The victory was Baylor’s fifth straight road win against the TCU Horned Frogs and the eighth consecutive game in the series that the home team has lost. Edgecombe Jr was special for the Bears. He pitched in a game-high 18 points to go with seven
rebounds, three assists and two steals in 38 minutes. He managed to shoot 7-for-14 from the field and made 3-of-7 shots from long range. His teammate Norchad Omier pumped in 18 points and 12 rebounds in 36 minutes played. Robert Wright III, who made the game-clinching free throws, dropped 11 points and seven assists in the Baylor win. Edgecombe Jr told reporters it felt good to break out of his shooting slump against TCU. “I am blessed to be on the floor and blessed to play for a great programme so I just want to thank God for that. Second of all, it is about time some shots started to drop. I have been working on it and you are gonna reap what you sow so I’ve just been working on it. “Credit to my teammates for getting me open looks, it is not gonna show up on the stat sheets but them setting the screens
The Comets’ Taysha Stubbs continued her winning ways in the under-17 girls’ javelin throw. She won with a winning throw of 45.98m, which was over the CARIFTA-qualifying standard of 39.75m.
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KLAY SCORES 28 BUT MAVS FALL TO BUCKS, 137-107
‘VJ’ scores 18 to help Bears hold on to beat Horned Frogs 61-58 By TENAJH SWEETING Tribune Sports Reporter tsweeting@tribunemedia.net
By TENAJH SWEETING Tribune Sports Reporter tsweeting@tribunemedia.net THREE decades ago marked the first time the Bahamas men’s national basketball team qualified for what was formerly known as the Tournament of Americas (now known as the FIBA AmeriCup) under the tutelage of legendary coach Gladstone “Moon” McPhee. Over a week ago, the Bahamas men’s national basketball team secured a spot at the 2025 FIBA Americup to be hosted in Managua, Nicaragua, making it just the second time in history the team has accomplished this feat. Coach McPhee, who led the team to an eighth-place finish in 1995, spoke about how it felt to witness the team qualify at the FIBA AmeriCup 2025 Qualifiers. “I am truly impressed. We have the talent but the key for every national team from the Bahamas is you have to love your country and be committed to represent your country to the best of your abilities. I feel we will be headed towards that again,” he said. Back in the 1995 Tournament of Americas hosted in Tucuman and Neuquen, the Bahamas advanced out of the group stage with a 1-3 win/loss record. The team secured their only victory of the group stage against Venezuela. The Bahamas advanced to the quarterfinal stage and earned their first and only win of the round against Cuba before ending with a 1-6 record and eight points.
WHO WILL WIN?: The Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools (BAISS) Track and Field Championships commenced yesterday at the original Thomas A Robinson Stadium. Photo: Tenajh Sweeting the event with a throw of 39.11m. Mahlik Williams, representing SAC, was third overall with a toss of 38.45m. Williams spoke about how it felt to break his own record. “It feels good. I just give all thanks to God for
FIBA AMERICUP: COACH ‘MOON’ MCPHEE IMPRESSED
By STEVE MEGARGEE AP Sports Writer
VALDEZ ‘VJ’ Edgecombe Jr in action. and stuff like that to get me wide open is something I am truly grateful for to be honest. They sacrificing their body for me to get an open shot shows how much they care for us and I love them,” he said. The Bears got out to a hot start early on in the contest. The team ran ahead 12-5 before the Horned Frogs gained some ground in the ball game. Noah Reynolds hit two shots at the charity stripe to tie the score at 31 apiece with 2:50 remaining in the first half. The score was knotted at 35 at the halftime break. “VJ” threw down a thunderous jam that translated to a 12-4 run for Baylor in the second half that pushed the lead to 56-45 at the 7:04 mark.
The Horned Frogs responded with a 13-2 run of their own and locked the score at 58 apiece thanks to a putback bucket by Trazarien White with 23 seconds remaining in the game. Baylor made three of their last four free throws to close out the Horned Frogs once and for all. Reynolds scored a teamhigh 16 points, four assists and two rebounds. The Bears were efficient from the field at 44 per cent while holding the Horned Frogs to 34.5 per cent on the night. They also won the battle in the paint 28-22. Baylor will look to end the NCAA basketball regular season on a high note against the third ranked Houston Cougars at home.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 32 points to bring his career total over 20,000, Damian Lillard added 34 points and Kevin Porter Jr. had a triple-double as the surging Milwaukee Bucks trounced the short-handed Dallas Mavericks 137-107 last night. The 30-year-old Antetokounmpo has scored 20,010 career points, becoming the 52nd player to reach 20,000.
The only players to get to the 20,000-point mark at a younger age were LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan. Klay Thompson scored 28 points for the shorthanded Mavericks and also contributed four rebounds, four assists and a steal. But Antetokounmpo, who played less than 25 minutes, also had 15 rebounds as the Bucks won for the eighth time in their
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THE SPORTS March CALENDAR SWIMMING LAST CHANCE CARIFTA MEET BAHAMAS Aquatics has announced that its Last Chance Meet for swimmers wishing to qualify for the 2025 CARIFTA Swimming Championships will be held over the weekend of March 14-15 at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex. The event is open to all Bahamas
Aquatics-registered swimmers who have previously competed in a Bahamas Aquatics competition. Swimmers who have not competed in a specific event previously will not be allowed to register for that event. (No Time Entries will not be accepted for this meet). The first session is scheduled for 6pm on
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