The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IT’S not how you start, nor how you get there. Most importantly, it’s how you finish.

• The Finish Line, a weekly column, seeks to comment on the state of affairs in the local sports scene, highlighting the highs and the lows, the thrills and the spills and the successes and failures.

THE WEEK THAT WAS

The men’s national basketball team had a golden opportunity to repeat as champions of the Caribbean Basketball Confederation Championships held last week at the Multi-Purpose Sports Complex in Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

The team, coached by Mario Bowleg, fell short in a 71-65 decision to the Virgin Islands.

While the team had to settle for the silver medal, the Bahamas did join the women’s national team, coached by Yolett McPhee-McCuin, in qualifying for the CentroBasket Tournament next year when teams from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean compete.

There’s no doubt that everybody expected the Bahamas to repeat as the men’s champions and become the first country to win both the men and women titles at the same tournament since Puerto Rico accomplished the feat in 2007.

What exactly went wrong?

Considering the fact that the team had gone undefeated in their round robin play and they breezed through their playoff game with a 85-68 rout over the host British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas had their hands full against the Virgin Islands, who also went undefeated in their pool and earned their berth to the finals with a 108-66 rout over Antigua & Barbuda.

While Bowleg, who was assisted by Wayde Watson and Norris Bain from Grand Bahama, credited the loss to a miscommunication” on the defensive end down the stretch, it would also appear that the Virgin Islands were a little more prepared to go the extra mile to pull off the win.

The Bahamas came within one (66-65) as David Nesbitt canned a basket with 1:48 to play, but the Virgin Islands got a couple of free throws in the final two seconds to ice the game, which saw only one player, Kadeem Coleby, scoring in double figures with 15 points.

It would appear that the Bahamas got a balanced scoring attack, but obviously in game situations, the Bahamas needed more than one player to stand out in order to be able to get the job done.

That didn’t happen when it counted the most in the big dance - the championship.

There’s no doubt that the Bahamas could have used one or two of the go-to-players in last year’s most valuable player Marvin Gray or Alonzo ‘CJ’ Hinds, who both scored 22 points in their 75-64 win over Cuba for the title. Neither player was able to make the trip this year for various reasons.

As Bowleg had indicated, the Bahamas Basketball Federation went with the players available and they did a good job in getting back to the final. Unfortunately, their efforts were thwarted by the Virgin Islands, who ended up securing the bronze medal over the British Virgin Islands.

What a difference a year made.

Now the federation has a year to turn things around as the focus switches to the CentroBasket. No date or venue has been revealed but Bowleg said the makeup of the team would hinge on who is available. There are a number of players who are currently overseas in college or the professional ranks and have the ability to contribute to the success of this team.

Bowleg said he would like to see some of the international players getting on the government subventions, but it will probably be best if he can lobby to get some funding to enable both the men and women national teams to travel so that they can get some more exposure playing together because the CentroBasket is a much higher level than the CBC.

I think it’s going to be impressive for the teams, as a whole, to be able to gel together and compete on a more frequent basis than just waiting on a chance to come together in practice weeks before they travel to compete.

The Bahamas certainly has the talent, but it’s going to be imperative for the federation to pull it all together well in advance of next year’s trip so that they can compete up to their full potential.

THE WEEK

AHEAD

This weekend is a critical one for both the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations and the Bahamas Swimming Federation.

Both organisations will be staging their national championships and it is anticipated that everybody who intends to make any contribution to the development of the international teams will be participating.

Unlike the BSF, the BAAA normally experiences the same scenario year after year with athletes coming home from college and the professional ranks, but not all compete in their individual events, leaving a lot to be desired in the marquee events.

I can’t remember the last time that we got to witness all of the top matchups in events as predicted, based on the way the athletes were performing all year long.

Whether or not that will be the case this weekend is something that we will have to wait and see.

At the same time, it’s interesting to note that as the national event, the BAAA was not able to secure the new Thomas A Robinson national stadium to host their event.

We’ve seen the national high school track and field championships held there in March, but after the hosting of the second IAAF World Relays, the BAAA has not been able to showcase their top athletes in the new stadium.

I think it’s a crying shame that the BAAA and the National Sports Authority could not have come up with an amicable agreement to move the nationals to the new stadium.

Why do we have a new national stadium that is not available for our best athletes to compete?

At the same time, we have to once again commend the BSF as they produce a true national championship with all of their top swimmers going head-to-head in their respective events.

The only problem is the federation is starting to outgrow the facilities and with the announcement by president Algernon Cargill that the Bahamas has secured the bid to stage the Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships (CISC) next year, it will be interesting to see how they make the adjustment in terms of accommodating everybody.

This is going to be an interesting week as both federations will be selecting their teams to compete at the Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada next month and FINA World Championship and IAAF World Championships that follow.

It will be interesting to see who is selected to the various teams.