The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

BACK in the win column on day three, the Bahamas sealed a spot in the semifinals of the Centrobasket U15 Championships for Men.

The Bahamas moved to 2-1 in pool play after a dominant 105-36 win over the Cayman Islands in El Salvador yesterday.

The Bahamas is now slated to face Puerto Rico - the top seed in Pool A - in tonight’s feature game at 10pm local time.

Raheem Laing finished with a double double and led the Bahamas in both scoring and rebounding with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Janecko Russell finished with 16 points and four assists, Shamar Burrows added 15 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals, Eduardo King posted the team’s second double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Sebastian Gray added eight points, 10 boards and four steals.

Every member of Team Bahamas reached the scorebook en route to the team shooting 47 per cent from the field and a dominating 94-10 advantage on points in the paint.

Daejour Adderley added seven points to his team high seven assists while Birthel Lightfoot added six points and five assists.

Arin Taylor led the Cayman Islands with 12 points.

Defensively, the Bahamas forced 33 turnovers, limited their opponents to just 23 per cent shooting from the field and had a 68-15 advantage on the boards.

After seeing the Cayman Islands suffer consecutive blowouts by a combined total of 190 points, the Bahamas was determined to get out to a quick start against the winless team.

They opened to a quick 8-0 lead, with Cayman starting 0-5 from the field and Laing opened with 8 of the first 10 points for the Bahamas.

The run reached 16-0 before Taylor made a three-pointer with 3:26 left to play in the period to put Cayman on the scoreboard for the first time.

The lead grew to as much as 19 on a Lightfoot jumper score and the Bahamas led 24-6 at the end of the period.

The Bahamas opened the third on a 12-0 run and saw their first 20-point advantage on a score by King.

Russell’s offensive rebound and putback gave the team a 30-point lead, 36-6 and the Bahamas took a 51-14 at the half.

Early in the third quarter, Lightfoot gave the Bahamas a 40-point lead, 59-19 on a layup.

Adderley’s assist to Livington Bromwell ended the quarter for a buzzer beating layup and a 61-point lead, 84-23, headed into the fourth quarter.

The Cayman Islands had their highest scoring quarter in the fourth with 13 points as the Bahamas cruised to the 69-point win.

Up next, they face a Puerto Rico team that finished Pool A undefeated at 3-0 with an average margin of victory of 65 points per game.

They won their opener 103-33 over Barbados, 72-26 over Guatemala and took down Costa Rica 86-36 yesterday.

The top scoring team in the tournament, Puerto Rico boasts four players among the top 10 scorers of the tournament thus far.

In the opposite semifinal, Mexico is slated to face Guatemala.