The Bahamas senior men's national basketball team claimed victory in the gold medal game of the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championships on Saturday night at the Multipurpose Sports Complex in Tortola, British Virgin Islands (BVI), and they did it in impressive fashion, defeating a very tough Cuban team for the second time in the tournament. The Bahamas prevailed in the gold medal game, 75-64, in a wire-to-wire victory.
The team traveled to the BVI last week with the goal of winning the gold, and qualifying for the Centrobasket Championships later this summer, in the process. They accomplished both. They ended the five-day tournament with a 4-1 win/loss record, looking particularly sharp in the final three to claim the gold.
In the final game of the tournament, The Bahamas and Cuba came in with contrasting styles of play which made the match-up very intriguing. It was one of the most exciting games of the week.
Cuba relied heavily on post play while The Bahamas played at a rapid pace because of the athleticism of the players.
The team also had to overcome its share of adversity, as it lost starting point guard Lynden "L.J." Rose to a high ankle sprain in the first game, and also overcame a blowout loss to Antigua, a team it was expected to beat.
In the gold medal game, it would once again be the guards of The Bahamas that stole the show.
Alonzo "C.J." Hinds and Marvin Gray finished with 22 points apiece to lead Team Bahamas. Magnum Rolle had another productive game as he fell one rebound shy of a double-double. He finished the game with 12 points and nine rebounds.
In the first quarter, Cuba got off to a fast start. They were led by their forward Jasiel Rivero Fernandez who finished the game with a team high 15 points to go along with seven rebounds. Cuba was active around the rim and used their size to get deep position on the blocks which allowed them to score easily on point blank lay-ups and second chance put-backs.
Despite a slow start, the Bahamian team managed to go on a run that allowed them to take the lead midway through the second quarter. At times, the Bahamian team tried to play isolation basketball and although they were successful occasionally, they were most effective when they worked the ball around. Good ball movement is what allowed them to outscore Cuba 20-12 in the second quarter and take a 34-29 lead into the half.
Kadeem Coleby played well for his squad down low. He and Javier Justiz Ferrer battled all game long in the post. He powered in 11 points for Team Bahamas.
Yaser Rodriguez Alfonso finished with nine points for Cuba, and Ferrer and Alexis Mestre Mencia dropped in eight apiece.
In the third quarter, the teams traded baskets, and it wasn't until the fourth when Cuba made a final push. They stormed back to cut the lead to five points, but Hinds wouldn't allow his team to stumble.
He connected on back-to-back jump shots, and as the time dwindled in the fourth quarter he delivered what most feel was the highlight play of the tournament. Hinds drove the lane and threw down a monster one-handed jam that sucked the life out of the Cuban team and sealed the deal for The Bahamas.
Team Bahamas claimed the gold in impressive fashion, but they have no time to rest on their laurels, as the Centrobasket Championships is right around the corner. Centrobasket is set for August 1-7, in Tepic, Nayarit in west-central Mexico. The top four from Centrobasket qualify for next year's FIBA Americas Championships where they will get an opportunity to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. FIBA (International Basketball Federation) is the world's governing body for basketball.
The CBC Championships for Senior Women will get underway Tuesday in Tortola.
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
