The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH the third and final leg of the FIBA AmeriCup 2020 Qualifiers set for February 19-20, Bahamas Basketball Federation president Mario Bowleg said they will need about $70,000 for the team to travel to compete.

The federation was hoping to host this round after they couldn’t get a commitment from the Bahamas Government to stage the second round in November. The first round was played earlier last year.

The second round of games were eventually staged at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. Playing out of Group D, the Bahamas lost 99-59 to the USA and 91-85 to Puerto Rico.

Now, the federation is back on the road when the team will play the USA in the opener on February 19 and host Puerto Rico in the finale on February 20.

The Bahamas will have to beat Puerto Rico in order to advance out of the AmeriCup Qualifier.

But Bowleg said they are more concerned about finding the funding to travel, rather than taking on their counterparts. He’s confident that, with the pool of players to select from, the Bahamas can advance to the next level.

“We could have had an opportunity to host these games, but we now have to travel and we have to find the funding to travel,” Bowleg said. “We are appealing to corporate Bahamas, so whatever we can get, it should help us to get to Puerto Rico. We need about $70,000. We are reaching out to our corporate sponsors, but we understand that everything is tight because of the coronavirus pandemic. But by February 6, if there’s no way that we can secure the funding, we will probably have to pull out.

Bowleg said the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture assisted them along with the Bahamas Olympic Committee to make the last trip to Indiana. But he said they will be relying on both entities to assist again.

“This is our chance to get our first team sport qualified for thed 2024 Olympics,” Bowleg said. “We feel we have the right mix of players who can get it done, so we are appealing to the public to assist us in this venture.”

He said he quite understand that al of thed monies should not bed spent on basketball, but because they are on the threshold of advancing, they should get the support to get the team to Puerto Rico.

Bowleg said they have players returning from the first leg and others, who were disappointed in the losses, who have made a commitment to try and get the team qualified for the next level.

The team will be selected from the list of the following players:

Elyiah Clark, Lynden Rose Jr, Dominic Bridgewater, D’Shon Taylor, Michael Carey Jr, Travis Munnings, Kentwan Smith, Mychal Thompson Jr, brothers Kadeem and Dwight Coleby, Willis Mackey, Nashad Mackey, Tavario Miller, David Nesbitt, Jaron Cornish, Godfrey Rolle III, Zane Knowles Shaquille ‘Shaq’ Cleare, Ahmad Pratt, Ronnie ‘JR’ Cadot, Corey Sands, Adam Johnson and Kemsey Sylvestre.

While head coach DeMarco will not be available because of his commitment to the Golden State Warriors where he is an assistant coach, Bowleg said they are expected to take Grand Bahamian Norris Bain to coach the team.

Should the men’s national team qualify for the Olympics, Bowleg said it would be another feather in the Bahamas’ cap at the international level.

Traditionally, the Bahamas has been represented in track and field, sailing, boxing, swimming and tennis at the four-yearly games, but the country is still waiting for the first team sports to break the barrier.

The XXXIII Olympic Games is scheduled for July 26 to August 11, 2024 in Paris, France, but the International Olympic Committee is still trying to get to the postponed XXXII Olympics in 2020, which have been rescheduled for July 23 to August 8, 2021 because of the pandemic.

Although there are reports that the games have been canceled, the IOC and the Japan Organizing Committee refuted those allegations, indicating that everything is still on for July.

The pandemic, which put the sporting world on a hold in March, 2020, continue to disrupt sports on the global scene with very few competitions staged and those that are still on, are doing so basically without any fanfare.

Here at home, very limited competition has been staged with just track and field, swimming, tennis and golf in thed spotlight. There is no basketball being played at the competitive level.

But Bowleg is hoping that with some of thed players listed in the pool at home, they are hoping that the Competent Authority and the Ministry of Health will grant team permission to use thed Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium to train over the next few weeks.

Should they secure the necessary funding, Bowleg said the team will head to Puerto Rico in advance of the games played so that they can bring everybody together for a few practice sessions.