The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

For the second time in as many days, a local team recorded a win over a visiting NCAA programme at the Bahamas Basketball Federation’s Summer of Thunder.

IBA Bahamas Elite held on late to defeat the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles 109-106 in overtime in their opening game of the series.

Three double doubles led the way for IBA highlighted by Livingston Munnings’ dominant statline. He finished with 31 points, 19 rebounds, four blocked shots and five assists. Also for IBA, JR Cadot had 27 points and 12 rebounds, Qyemah Gibson had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Adam Johnson finished with six points and five blocked shots.

Three newcomers combined to score more than half of Southern Mississippi’s points.

Oklahoma State transfer Tyree Griffin led the Golden Eagles with 24 points, Memphis transfer Dominic Magee scored 23, freshman LaDavius Draine scored 19.

IBA made the opening three of the game on their first possession and the game was tied at eight and again at 15 before Southern Miss pulled away. They took a 32-25 lead into the second quarter. They opened the second quarter on a 9-0 run and a Magee layup gave them their biggest lead of the game, 41-25 at the 8:19 mark. IBA would have a run of their own near the end of the quarter and eventually trimmed the deficit to just six points at intermission. Munnings split a pair of free throws and they trailed just 51-44 at the half.

IBA dominated the third quarter and outscored Southern Miss by 13. Cadot’s three pointer brought IBA to within one, 61-60 and he tied the game moments later at the line. Gibson gave them their first lead of the game since early in the first quarter and a Deangelo Mackey three pointer capped a 16-2 run. IBA would eventually take a 72-66 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Golden Eagles trailed by as many as 10 points when Cadot made a layup for an 82-72 lead before they rallied to force overtime. IBA led 91-86 with just under one minute left to play when Magee made a free throw, Draine made a layup and stole the ball on the ensuing possession for a dunk to tie the game and force overtime.

Southern Miss were still down by four points with 46 seconds to play in the extra period, but after scoring on a layup, Magee intercepted a pass near mid-court and converted the steal into a three-point play. His free throw put the Golden Eagles ahead 106-105 with eight seconds left in the game.

Coming out of a timeout, Cadot scored the game winning layup with just four seconds left to play.

“When you play, you want to win, so I’m obviously disappointed,” USM coach Doc Sadler said to WDAM. “But I really thought there were some positives. We came back in regulation when we were down and got into overtime. We missed a couple of opportunities to maybe get an easy basket, but, overall, that’s why we came down here.”