The Tribune

THE University of the Bahamas Mingoes men’s basketball season started strong with a victory in the New Providence Basketball Association at the AF Adderley Gymnasium on Saturday night.

Three Mingoes basketball players combined for 45 points to lead UB to a convincing 87-68 win over the Leno Regulators.

Robert Joseph led the team with 19 points and 5 rebounds, Christoff McKenzie chipped in 14 points and Kemsy Sylvestre added 12 points to go with nine rebounds and seven steals for the Mingoes.

The Mingoes are now 1-0 on the season. “We had a great first-half performance but we started to lose a bit of focus in the second half,” said Joseph, who connected five three-pointers.

“We started to pull through with our solid defensive pushes. We were able to force turnovers and those turnovers turned into points.”

The Mingoes dominated the game from the first quarter with a stifling defence, scoring 26 points off turnovers and 19 fast-break points.

The Mingoes campaign was bolstered by a strong presence in the paint with 42 points in the key.

The Mingoes started to dominate from the opening minutes. Alexander Rolle hit a three-pointer to put the Regulators up 3-0 in the opening minute and that was the only lead the team had in the game.

The Mingoes ended the quarter up 25-12 and at the half 54-27.

In the third quarter, they started slow but put the heat on again to end the quarter 75-50.

Alexander Rolle had 19 points and Kenneth Pratt had 13 for the Regulators in the loss. Chico Francis led the team in rebounds with 13.

UB’s head coach Bacchus Rolle said the team started slow but was able to pull it all together during the second half, leading by as much as 34 points in the third quarter off a jumper from Travaughn Nicholls that put them up 65-31. “We started a bit flat in the first half but in the second half they really turned on the defence,” Rolle said.

Rolle was constantly substituting players and that contributed to 51 bench points. “We had a big rotation going to see a few combinations on the court and I really like what I saw as we start the season.”

Rashad Sturrup had nine rebounds and seven points as well for the Mingoes in the win.

The Mingoes next play at 8pm on Friday against the Fort Charlotte Defenders in UB’s homecoming game at the AF Adderley Gymnasium.