The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemeddia.net

THE Bahamas men’s national team played with a lot of heart and grit right to the end, securing a hard fought 83-79 victory over Panama in the first of two games at home this weekend as the FIBA Americas World Cup Qualifier continued Friday night at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.

In a game that was postponed from Thursday night due to Hurricane Nicole, the Bahamas got a well rounded effort as all 10 of their 11 players who played in the game scored at least three points or more. Three posted double digit figures before they get ready to play their rematch against Argentina on Sunday night.

Moses Johnson, taking over the head coaching job in the absence of Chris DeMarco, said he had all the confidence in the world in his players as he advised them that once they put five players on the court just like Panama, they would be victorious.

“They dig deep. Three minutes in, I told them to stick to our guns,” said Johnson, who was assisted by John Nutt. “We worked so hard over the last two days, I said don’t go away from it.

“Let’s stick to what we know and it will take us through and it did. Down the stretch, we executed two excellent out-of-bounds plays and we came through.”

The Bahamas, missing the majority of the professional players playing in the National Basketball Association and in the European League, utilized a mixture of internationally and locally based players to get the job done as they rebounded from their 95-77 loss to the Argentina in their last game played on August 29th.

David Nesbitt led the attack with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Jaraun ‘Kino’ Burrows chipped in with 12 points and five rebounds before fouling out and point guard Godfrey Rolle III helped out with 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Jaron Cornish, the other starting guard, canned nine points with seven rebounds, six assists and a steal; JR Cadot also had nine points with six rebounds and Livingstone Munnings came off the bench and also contributed nine points with 13 rebounds and two block shots.

Eugene Bain had seven points and three rebounds; Kadeem Coleby had six points and eight rebounds; Kemsy Sylvestre had four points and four rebounds and Abel Joseph added three points with three rebounds.

The Bahamas led 24-23 after the first quarter and extended it to 45-37 at the half. Coming out of the locker room, Panama came back and made a contest in the second half, out-scoring the Bahamas 26-18 in the third quarter to tie the scored at 63-63 going into the fourth quarter.

It was a sea-saw battle in the final period before the Bahamas came from a one-point deficit, 70-69, with about six minutes left on a lay-up from Burrows to go ahead 71-70.  A minute later, Burrows scored on another lay-up for a 73-70 lead. Rolle III’s lay-up extended their lead to 75-70 with a little over four minutes left.

After Panama came within one, 75-74, Burrows again went on the attack with a lay-up with t2:01 on the clock for a 77-74 advantage and with 1:15 showing, he got another lay-up for a 79-74 lead. With 57 seconds left, Burrows stuck in another basket to push the lead to 81-78.

After Rolle converted the last of two free throws with 15 seconds for a 82-78 margin, the Bahamas held on as Cadot sealed the deal with the last of his two free throws with just one second on the clock.

Josimar Avarza scored a game high 18 points with eight rebounds; Carlos Rodriquez also had 18 points with three rebounds and three steals; Ernesto Oglivie had 15 points, four rebounds and four assists before he fouled out; Trevor Gaskins had 12 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals and Eric Romero had 10 points, four rebounds and two assists.

Eugenio Luzcando also fouled out after he helped out with six points, four rebounds and four assists.

As they look ahead to Sunday night at 6 pm when they play Argentina, Johnson said he’s going to give his players some much needed rest so that they can be at full strength for the bigger task ahead of them.

“We’ll do some filming tomorrow and give these guys some rest because playing two games in two days is not easy,” Johnson said. “I’m going to give them some rest, then we will watch some film and then we will make some adjustments for Argentina and go from there.”