Simba FrenchSend an emailJune 20, 2022 208 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
The Bahamas’ under-15 (U15) boys junior national team emphatically lost two games over the weekend, playing at the FIBA Americas U15 Centrobasket Championships at the Coliseo Fernando ‘Rube’ Hernandez in Gurabo, Puerto Rico.
The Bahamas was scheduled to play Guyana on Saturday, but ended up facing the host nation Puerto Rico and lost drastically, 107-42. On Sunday, they fell to Mexico, 99-49.
The competition, which was set to feature eight teams from the Caribbean and Central America, ended up with just six teams. Guyana and Panama pulled out days before. It forced organizers to make one group for the competition. The remaining teams other than The Bahamas, Puerto Rico and Mexico are the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos Islands and Costa Rica. The Bahamas will play the Dominican Republic at 3 p.m. today.
In the game against Puerto Rico, Joshua Williams led The
Bahamas in scoring with 10 points in 21 minutes on the floor. He shot 4-for-13 from the field including 2-for-4 from deep.
It was not the start that head coach Quentin Hall and his coaching staff had hoped for. Williams scored the first basket of the game to put The Bahamas up 2-0 with 9.02 left in the first quarter, but Puerto Rico then put on a show for their fans with a 24-2 scoring run and never looked back.
It turned out that 2-0 lead was the only lead for The Bahamas in the game. Desmond Hall stopped the run with a layup, but the first quarter ended with the host nation leading 36-6.
In the second quarter, the Bahamian teenagers started playing with more fight in them but Puerto Rico was too much for them. The Bahamas scored 17 points in that quarter but Puerto Rico scored 31 to take a commanding 67-21 lead at the intermission.
The game was a foregone conclusion at the half as Puerto Rico was already ahead by 46 points. Puerto Rico was held to 15 points in the third quarter but The Bahamas countered with just 11 points.
Puerto Rico’s Felipe Garcia led all scorers with 19 points. Puerto Rico’s largest lead of the game was 65 points which turned out to be the final margin of victory.
The Bahamas shot the ball poorly, making just 26.9 percent of their shots from the field. Puerto Rico knocked down 45.8 percent of their shots from the field. It was a sloppy game from The Bahamas as the host country stole the ball 31 times, coming away with 53 points off turnovers.
Against Mexico, Noah Bain paced The Bahamas with 13 points on 6-for-13 shooting. Michael Munnings added nine on 4-for-9 shooting and Bradleon McDonald contributed eight points on 4-for-5 shooting.
Karim Lopez led Mexico with a game-high 21 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Angel Escarcega added 17 on 6-for-9 shooting and Augusto Carriedo contributed 13 points on 3-for-6 shooting.
The FIBA (International Basketball Federation)-sanctioned tournament is set to end on Wednesday.