The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas men’s national basketball team’s opener against St Vincent & the Grenadines looked so easy with a 31-point massacre.

After posting a 46-22 advantage at the half, the team continued to apply the defensive pressure as they went on to pull off an impressive 84-53 victory in the first game on day one of the Caribbean Basketball Championships in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

The effort was a result of the tremendous effort the players turned in as they participated in the nine-day training camp at Colorado State University under the supervision of first year head coach Larry Eustachy.

“It was a pretty good performance,” said assistant coach Mario Bowleg. “We didn’t feel the team was as aggressive as they should have been at the beginning because I believe they were all just anxious to get on the court on play. But once they settled down, we managed to play up to our potential.”

Bowleg, the first vice president of the Bahamas Basketball Federation, said the make-up of the team puts the Bahamas in a very good position to win the tournament as everybody was talking about their athleticism that was displayed so far.

“We believe that this is the best team that we have put together in a long time,” he said. “Everybody came out and did what they had to do to win. It was really a collective effort and if we can get that type of performance every game, we will be okay.”

The Bahamas opened the game with an 8-0 run and seemed as if they were going to blow out their opponents. But St Vincent and the Grenadines managed to trim the deficit to one, 12-11, the closest they came to taking the lead. But that was short-lived as the Bahamas went on a spurt for a 25-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.

With their swamping defence and dominance in the paint, the Bahamas held their opponents to just five points in the second quarter as they posted a 46-22 rout at the half. By the end of the third, the Bahamas had built a huge 66-33 lead and it was just a matter of what the final score would be.

Grand Bahamian guard Alonzo Hinds came off the bench and led three other players in double figures with 14 points, shooting 6-for-15 from the field, 1-for-4 from the three-point line and 1-for-2 from the three throw line. He also had three assists and a pair of steals.

As the starting power forward, Bennett Davis scored 12 points on 3-for-7 shooting from the field and 6-of-6 from the foul line in 18:31 minutes, pulling down seven rebounds with a block shot. Small forward Eugene Bain was the only other player in double figures with 11 off the bench. He played 16:46 minutes and also had two rebounds.

Starting point guard Marvin Gray and Magnum Rolle, both from Grand Bahama, helped out with nine points - Gray chipping in with five assists, four rebounds and as many steals, while Rolle six rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

Also starting centre Kadeem Coleby, Mitchell Johnson and Scott Farrington came up with six points, Dwight Coleby had five, Lynden Rose Jr four and Ray Rose two.

All 12 players, with the exception of centre Anwar Ferguson, played more than 10 minutes. Ferguson was only in the game for 8:22 and he contributed six rebounds, but went scoreless.

The Bahamas will now prepare to play Antigua today and Cuba on Thursday.

For a point of interest, Cuba blasted Antigua by almost the same identical score as the Bahamas over St Vincent and the Grenadines with their 82-56 decision in the second game of the tournament.

The Bahamas, however, may probably be without the services of Lynden Rose, who went down with a sprained ankle in the second quarter.

“We still feel we have sufficient players on this team like CJ Hinds, Marvin Gray and Mitchell Johnson, who can step in and handle the ball in his absence,” Bowleg said.

“We hope that he can get healthy, but we will not rush him back until we know for sure that he is comfortable to play again.”

The top two teams in their Group A will advance to the crossover playoffs on Friday against the top two teams from Group B, comprising of Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Guyana and the Virgin Islands. The remaining pools will play for their final classification.

The championship and consolation games will be played on Saturday as teams battle to advance to the CentroBasket Tournament.

The team will depart Tortola on Sunday, just before the women’s national team, coached by Yolett McPhee-McCuin, will begin play in their segment of the CBC Tournament. The Bahamas will be in Group A with Barbados, the Dominican Republic and the Virgin Islands.

The women are scheduled to begin play on Tuesday against the Virgin Islands, followed by the Dominican Republic on Wednesday and Barbados on Thursday.

The playoffs and classification will be contested on Friday and the consolation and championship games are set for Saturday.