It was a tale of two halves last night at the Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium, as The Bahamas' senior men's national basketball team looked totally clueless in the first half before storming all the way back in the second.
They fell behind by 23 points in the second quarter, and trailed 53-33 at the half, but gradually chipped away at the lead in the second half. In the end the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) proved to be too fundamentally sound though, as they held on for a 91-89 wire-to-wire win, taking the gold in this year's Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championships.
"They were very good in the first half. They made almost every shot they put up and you have to give them credit for that," said Team Bahamas Head Coach Larry Brown. "On defense, they handled our pressure well and got some open shots. We got back into the game, but just came up short tonight. I'm happy with the way they fought, but I can't be happy with the result. We're warriors and we want to win. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do so tonight," he added.
With the loss, The Bahamas settled for the silver. Jamaica claimed the bronze, taking the third place game, 55-54, over the British Virgin Islands. All three qualified for next year's Centrobasket Championships in Mexico. Rony Cadeau and Mitchell Johnson carried the team on their shoulders last night as they led the frantic rally in the second half. Cadeau finished with a team high 22 points, knocking down all four of his three point shots in the second half. He hit one at the buzzer at the end of regulation but it was too little too late for Team Bahamas.
The closest they got in the second half was five points, until he knocked down his fourth three point shot of the game at the final buzzer. Johnson scored 16 points, point guard Alonzo 'CJ' Hines contributed 13 and Jaraun 'Keno' Burrows and Jamal Douglas powered in 10 apiece. "First of all, I just have to give thanks to God. We played hard and were able to escape without any major injuries," said Team Bahamas' starting two-guard Rony Cadeau. "I think we started off very lapsed in the first quarter and that haunted us for the rest of the game. We never gave up though.
We battled hard in the second half and just barely came up short. We weren't nervous - our energy just wasn't there. We tried to respond in the second half, but I think we got a little tired at the end. Overall, I think that the coaches did a very good job of picking this young team and we showed that we could play with the big boys. Only good things could happen for us in the future," he added. Kevin Sheppard led the USVI with a game-high 28 points last night. Cuthbert Victor scored 19 points and pulled down 10 boards, and Walter Hodge contributed 18.
"It was a great game for us and we're very happy to pull it off," said USVI Head Coach Milton Barnes. "We knew that The Bahamas was going to be a tough team and they gave us a battle all the way through. Well, we knew that we needed to get off to a good start - we couldn't let the crowd get in the game.
I got a lil' worried in the second half, but I knew that if we just hung in there and played solid basketball we would be fine in the end." It was successive three point shots from Cadeau which got The Bahamas going in the second half. His second pulled the team within 70-58 with 1:31 remaining in the third quarter.
The Bahamas closed the quarter down 72-61, and continued to battle back in the fourth. They kept chipping away at the lead, pulling within five twice, but could get no closer. The USVI got two free shots from Phillip Jones and a three point shot from Hodge to take a 84-74 lead with 2:39 remaining; and all hope seemed lost for Team Bahamas.
They got back within five points in the final minute of the game, but weren't able to get any closer until Cadeau's three point shot at the final buzzer.
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