The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunmedia.net

HIALEAH, Florida — The opening game of the Florida National University Basketball Classic was not what the College of the Bahamas Caribs men’s basketball team expected.

Last night at the Bucky Dent Gymnasium, the host Florida National University Conquistadors welcomed the Caribs to the United States with a 107-74 rout.

“They’re not 30 points better than us,” said COB head coach Bacchus Rolle. “We got caught up in the uptempo and we wanted to slow the ball down a lot and tried to break the press and we opted for quicker shots as opposed to pulling it out and playing our game. Some of our players in my opinion didn’t come out to play. They were only up by five points at the half and we didn’t execute at all in the second half. They had some very good three pointers and that broke it down for us, but they are not 30 points better than us.”

The Conquistadors hit 11-of-18 three-pointers, including four from Regan O’Rouke, who led their attack with 18 points, five rebounds and three assists. Terric Harris added 17 points with five rebounds, Quantavis Hall had 16 points and both Tonny Uribe (with four three-pointers as well) and Yves Goedschalk chipped in with 12 apiece.

For the Caribs, Justin Smith had 18 points, Reuben Goodman had 15 points, Justin Munroe 11 points and six rebounds and Alvano Laing helped out with 10 points and four rebounds. The Caribs were also outrebounded 34-20 and they made 20 turnovers compared to just 11 by their opponents.

Goodman admitted they simply didn’t play the way they were capable of playing and they will now have to go back to the drawing bard and make the necessary adjustments for game two in the tournament today.

The Caribs, still a bit tired from their delayed flight out of the Bahamas earlier in the afternoon, fell behind early 6-0 two minutes and 12 seconds into the first quarter, prompting coach Rolle to call a timeout.

After they regrouped, COB went on a 8-0 spurt that started at 17:25 on a pair of free throws from Justin Smith and ended on a lay-up from Laing as the Conquistadors called their timeout trailing 8-6.

The Conquistadors responded by going on a 9-2 run to push their lead back up 15-10 on an uncontested layup from Hall. That was short-lived as Glen Davis canned a layup to fuel the Caribs’ comeback for a 15-15 tie.

At the half mark of the period, Goedchalk drove inside for a one-handed dunk that helped to extend the Conquistadors’ lead again by three (22-19) and O’Rouke scored on a layup to push it to five (25-19).

With 9:02 left, O’Rouke pulled up for a three-pointer for a 29-21 advantage and at 8:04, another three from Brian Smith extended their margin to 10 (32-22). Uribe got hot, hitting two consecutive three pointers for a 39-24 lead.

At 5:40, Goodman picked off a pass and drove the lane for a one-handed dunk over a defender for a 39-26 deficit.

With 1:20 remaining in the period, Smith canned a turn-around jumper and Goodman went inside for a layup for a 43-38 deficit. And at 7.7 seconds, Laing converted a pair of free throws for a 45-40 deficit as the score remained at the half.

The Conquistadors opened the first 2:35 as Jarvis Davis had a dunk and O’Rouke hit three straight three pointers to open an early 60-42 lead with 15:52 left in the game.

The Caribs got a sigh of relief when Justin Smith was fouled on a three-point attempt. However, he hit two of the three shots for a 62-48 deficit. On the next play, Justin Smith went up for a tip in on an offensive rebound and came down grimacing after scoring the basket to cut the lead to 62-50.

That was the closest they got as Davis completed an 8-0 spurt that put the Conquistadors up by 20 with their biggest lead, 70-50. They slowly pushed their lead to 78-53 on consecutive three-pointers from Brian Smith and Aldor Kola.

The Caribs managed to get inside to cut the deficit back to 20, 82-62, but they didn’t have any answer for the Conquistadors’ outside shooting as they again went up 87-62.

If that wasn’t enough, the Conquistadors went on the inside and Terric Harris highlighted another spurt with a reverse dunk for a 93-62 lead with 6:25 to go as the Caribs called time out.

Out of the break, Goodman canned a three pointer for a 93-65 deficit. They passed the century mark on a driving layup by Harris for a 101-69 lead.

Today, the Caribs will play the University of the Virgin Islands at 6pm. After taking a day off on Friday, the Caribs will close out the tournament in a rematch against the Conquistadors 1pm Saturday before returning home later that night.