The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

WITH their backs against the wall, the Bahamas responded with their most complete game of the Caribbean Basketball Confederation Championships tournament and advanced to the medal round.

Led by a 26-point performance from Magnum Rolle, the Bahamas scored a 77-71 win over Cuba to claim Group A and advanced to the medal round yesterday in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

Kadeem Coleby added 17 points and a team high seven rebounds while Ray Rose finished with 17 points off the bench. Mitch Johsnon was inserted into the starting lineup after playing just over a minute in Tuesday’s blowout loss to Antigua and Barbuda. Johnson finished with five rebounds and a team high six assists, distributing the ball to the Bahamian frontcourt who finished with 36 points in the paint.

The Bahamas will advance to the semi-finals and face the British Virgin Islands 9pm tonight. Cuba will face the US Virgin Islands in the other semi-final.

The Bahamas received help from St Vincent and the Grenadines who defeated Antigua 93-92 in the opening game of the session.

The loss tied St Vincent and Antigua with 1-2 records in Group A, while the Bahamas and Cuba both finished at 2-1.

After posting nine points in a loss, Rolle said he was intent on keeping the team alive with a more aggressive style of play. “They told me to be a ball hog and pull my team through,” he said to FIBA Americas. “We have to play with the same intensity we played with today. It’s all about Team Bahamas, we came here to win gold and that’s what we plan to do.”

Despite some late challenges from Cuba, the Bahamas led wire to wire in the win. Rolle opened with a fadeaway inside for the game’s first basket, and it sparked the Bahamas to an 11-0 lead. He capped the scoring run with a layup before Cuba answered with five points in a row before Johnson scored his only basket of the game, a three-point play.

After seven turnovers in the first quarter of the previous game, the Bahamas had just one against Cuba and led 22-9 after the first.

In the second, the Bahamas’ improved ball movement led to a 26-13 lead on a Coleby layup with just under five minutes left to play. The Bahamas led by as much as 16 points in the second quarter before Cuba made a run to reduce the deficit to single digits.

The Bahamas shot 44 per cent in first half, shot 10 more attempts than Cuba but were 0-7 from three-point range. They recorded 10 assists in the first half and kept Cuba from taking a single trip to the line en route to a 34-25 lead at the half.

The Bahamas hit their first three-pointer of the game in the opening possession of the third when Marvin Gray made one from the wing. Cuba outscored the Bahamas 25-20 in the third, yet the Bahamas clung to a 54-50 lead heading into the fourth.

In the fourth, Cuba came within two points (57-55) before Rolle sparked a run for the Bahamas.

The Bahamas led by seven, a 66-59 lead with just over six minutes left to play before Cuba worked their way back into the game 69-66 with 3:36 left. Rose came up with the biggest defensive play of the game when he drew a charge on a basket which could have trimmed the Cuban deficit to one. It shifted the momentum in favour of the Bahamas and Rolle drew the fifth foul on Justiz on the following possession, after he had scored nine points in the fourth.

Rolle scored the final seven points for the Bahamas en route to the win. William Granda led Cuba with 18 points while Esteban Martinez finished with 11.