The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Coach Larry Brown liked what he saw in the men's national basketball team's gallant 80-68 victory over Cuba on day one of the CentroBasket Tournament in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.

Playing out of Group A, the Bahamas got a balanced scoring attack yesterday as Marvin Gray led the way with 16 points, six assists and three rebounds.

Eugene Bain was the only other player in double figures with 10, Jaraun Burrows had nine points with eight rebounds.

Mitch Johnson, Rony Cadeau (six rebounds) and Bennet Davis (five rebounds) all finished with eight points.

"This was a big game for us to make sure that we get a good placement down here," Brown said. "When you get the first one, you want to go and get the second one."

The Bahamas out-scored Cuba 19-16 in the first quarter and 20-16 in the second quarter for a 39-32 half-time lead. "We started off slow, falling behind 9-0, but we switched to man-to-man and that was the difference in the game," said Brown about their turn around.

Now the Bahamas is gearing up to play against Puerto Rico in game two today and Brown admits that he doesn't expect it to be a walk in the park.

"It's a great challenge down here, but we're excited about our chances," he said. "I know at the college where I coach at Ranger College, there are a couple of players here playing for Puerto Rico, so we've been talking about that. It should be interesting. But we will be ready for the game."

Mario Bowleg, one of the team's assistant coaches and the first vice president of the Bahamas Basketball Federation, said they have done all the things they needed to do to get ready for the tournament.

"Looking at the tournament, we felt that the federation did a great job in putting this team together, one that would be able to compete and be able to come out of the pool as one of the top two teams," he said.

"We knew that Cuba would be tough to beat as the first one we play. But once we beat them, that would measure how far we would go. Winning that that game today was a feather in our cap and now we are looking forward to playing Puerto Rico tomorrow (today)."

Bowleg said the players were all confident going into the tournament and they are eager to get out of pool two and hopefully qualify for the Tournament of Americas.

If they qualify, this will mark the second time that the Bahamas would have reached that plateau. In 2001, the junior boys team, including Mitch Johnson and Jamal Douglas and coached by Bowleg, advanced to the tournament. The federation at the time was presided by Arnold Bain.