The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas’ under-15 boys national team lost its second game of the 2014 Caribbean Basketball Championships to host Panama in the feature game on day two of the tournament.

Head coach Quentin ‘Three Ounce’ Hall could be a little more content with the team’s effort although they came up short, 70-63, to Panama. Their effort was much better than the 78-40 blowout loss to Puerto Rico the night before as the tournament got underway.

Deangelo Mackey once again turned out to be the offensive spark for the Bahamas, producing 20 points, five rebounds and four assists in 32 minutes and 32 seconds, Corey Sands had 17 points and 10 rebounds in 27:46 minutes and Franco Miller added 12 points with two rebounds and two assists in 32:20 minutes.

Undefeated in two games after knocking off Guatemala 70-53 in their opener on day one, Panama got a monster game from Jonthon Salazar with a game high 32 points, 10 rebounds and one assist in 32:52 minutes.

Today, the Bahamas will get a chance to get in the win column when they take on Guatemala in their final game of the round robin. It’s the battle of the winless as Guatemala lost their second game 81-39 to Panama just before the Bahamas.

The playoffs and classification will begin on Saturday.

Despite losing last night, the Bahamas was in contention of pulling off the upset. But with about two minutes left in the game, Panama opened a slight 62-58 lead and they built on it to control the tempo down the stretch to secure the win.

Midway through the third, the Bahamas opened a 37-34 lead, but Panama came back for a 39-39 tie with just under three minutes before the final break.

Mackey attempted anther three-pointer before the buzzer sounded, but he missed as Panama went on to hold a 42-40 lead at the end of the period.

The Bahamas started the second quarter by opening a 17-12 lead that forced Panama to call a time out. The Bahamas went on a scoring drought until Miller scored his first basket in the game for a three-pointer for a 20-14 lead but Panama answered with one of their own.

Panama went on a 13-7 spurt the rest of the way as they posted a 27-21 margin at the half.

The Bahamas got nine points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals from Mackey and Sands helped out with six points, four rebounds and three steals.

The Bahamas blew an 8-4 lead, but took a 13-11 margin at the end of the quarter on a buzzer beating three-pointer from Mackey.

The Bahamas shot 6-for-19 from the field and made six turnovers in the period.