By RENALDO DORSETT
Tribune Sports Reporter
rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMIAN national basketball team player Torrington Cox will return to Iraq with his latest signing.
Cox agreed to terms for a second stint with Nift Al-Janoub of the Iraq Superleague, the highest professional league in the country.
The 34-year-old forward enters his 12th season of professional basketball out of Kings University. He recently competed for the Bahamas at the FIBA AmeriCup Pre-Qualifiers in Belize.
Team Bahamas advanced to the next round in their bid for AmeriCup and World Cup qualifications after they finished second among Group Phase A at the tournament last month. They concluded with a 2-1 record with an 86-72 win in the finale over the host country Belize.
Cuba finished the tournament at 3-0. The top two teams in each group will advance to the qualifying tournament that will begin in November in a home-and-away series of games and continue in February and June, 2020.
Cox spent much of this season playing locally with the PJ Stingers in the New Providence Basketball Association. He spent last season overseas with Nift Al-Janoub and was awarded Asia-Basket.com All-Iraqi League Forward of the Year, was selected to First-Team and selected to All-Imports Team.
Cox’s basketball journey has taken him to four continents (Asia, Africa, North America, South America) and 10 different countries over the past decade. He has previously played professionally in Chile (CD Sagrados), Colombia (Piratas), Mexico (Fuerza Regia and Meteoros), Qatar (Qatar Sports Club), Saudi Arabia (Uhud), UAE, Kuwait (Al Qadsia), Egypt (Al Ettehad), United Arab Emirates (Banijas) and Libya (Ahly Benghazi).
Cox’s team made it to the Kuwait Federation Cup Final Four in 2013. He was also voted Africabasket.com All-African Champions Cup 1st Team back in 2012. In 2008 he was drafted by Utah Flash (D-League) in the seventh round (105th overall).
A national team stalwart, he also participated in the Bahamas Basketball Federation’s Summer of Thunder last summer where he was one of the key figures in leading the Bahamas All-Stars to a 100-98 win over the Colorado State Rams.
He finished with 25 points and eight rebounds, and shot 7-14 from three-point range.
The AsiaBasket.com profile on Cox said: “He is a very athletic player who has a lot of skills and is very versatile as far as the positions he can play.
“He has the size to play inside while having the quickness and shooting touch to play on the perimeter.
“He handles the ball well and can attack the basket off the dribble while having range out to three-point distance. Offensively his skills are very high.”
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