The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH just about all of the funding secured, the Bahamas Basketball Federation is now preparing to assemble the men’s national team that will represent the country in the final two games of the second leg of the FIBA Americas World Cup Qualifier.

Federation president Eugene Horton confirmed that with the assistance of the Bahamas Government and some anonymous donors, they have accounted for the majority of the estimated $50,000 to make the trip to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, February 26-27.

Still winless from the first two games played against Canada in November in Group C of the Americas’ tie, the Bahamas will need to win at least one of the two games they will play against the host Dominican Republic and the US Virgin Islands heading into the final leg of the qualifier in July.

“We received some funds, some assistance from the government and some private folks and so we are getting ready to go,” Horton said.

“We are just putting the team together to travel in a few weeks. We should have sufficient funding to go.”

At one point, the federation was considering withdrawing from the competition, or worse-case scenario, they would have asked FIBA to delay the tournament because they didn’t have the necessary funding to travel.

“It’s been a challenge, but we managed to get some funding, thanks to the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and some private donors,” said Horton after they made a plea for assistance once the word got out that the team would not be able to make the trip. “Hopefully by June, we will be more prepared. We were under the impression that window was covered. So we’re putting some things in place so that we won’t have to go through this again.”

The team, which is expected to be finalised by next week, will be coached once again by Moses Johnson. He noted that based on the funding they will secure in total, it will determine who else will get to travel on the coaching staff.

“It’s a breath of fresh air because I think we have a great team to compete in these games coming up,” said Johnson, who coached the last two games in November against Canada. “We can now move ahead and plan to compete in this next window.

“We will have a revamped team with some of the guys returning like Devario Miller, Danrad Knowles, Travis Munnings, Kentwan Smith, David Nesbitt and Rashad Davis. We will have about eight or nine of the top 24 players with an influx of some new talent we will reveal when the team is announced.”

Johnson noted that two key players, guard Domnick Bridgewater won’t be released from his team in Europe for this window, and with forward Dwight Coleby just signing a new contract, won’t be available to play as well.

With the team they are assembling, Johnson said he’s convinced that the Bahamas should be able to prevail against the Dominican Republic and the US Virgin Islands,

By Friday, Johnson said the federation will release the list of 24 players in the pool before they name the final 12-man roster next week during a press conference.

“We are all set to go. We’re just waiting on the amount of funding that is levied so we can pick the travel delegation based on the funding provided,” Johnson said.

“But we are preparing a team to win. The Dominican Republic will pose a challenge because they are playing at home, but we feel confident that we can beat the US Virgin Islands. We’ve beaten them in the past and they have beaten us, so we expect a fairly good game with us coming out on top.”

The Bahamas will have to split to take the pressure of having to win two games when they play in July. The good thing is the US Virgin Islands is also winless and will take on Canada in their other game played, while the Dominican Republic is 2-0 and will face Canada (2-0) in their other game in this window.

If they are successful this window, Johnson said it would bode well going into the summer when they are expecting to have National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Suns’ centre Deandre Ayton and newly acquired Indiana Pacers’ guard Chavano “Buddy” Hield (formerly of the Kings), who have already made a commitment.

They are expected to be joined by NBA D League’s Kai Jones, along with collegians Lourawls ‘Tum Tum’ Nairn Jr, Samuel Hunter and Garvin Clarke, just to name a few.