BARBADOS oppressive 13-year hold over Trinidad at the Caribbean Basketball Championships has come to an abrupt end.But thats not the only thing the twin-island republic laid to waste.Whatever slim chances Barbados had of qualifying for the semi-final round were all but squashed when their southern rivals romped to 90-63 rout on Wednesday night at the Multipurpose Complex in Road Town [read more]
BARBADOS oppressive 13-year hold over Trinidad at the Caribbean Basketball Championships has come to an abrupt end.
But thats not the only thing the twin-island republic laid to waste.
Whatever slim chances Barbados had of qualifying for the semi-final round were all but squashed when their southern rivals romped to 90-63 rout on Wednesday night at the Multipurpose Complex in Road Town.
The humiliating 27-point annihilation marked the first time since 1996 that Trinidad defeated their Bajan counterparts at this level, also giving them their biggest margin of victory in this near 30-year-old rivalry.
Worse yet is that the now undefeated Trinis were considered to be somewhat of a let-off, being late replacements for the absent powerhouses Dominican Republic.
Obviously Trinidad werent aware of their supposed minion status in outclassing Barbados in every statistical category though, best illustrated by the games huge rebounding disparity (54-26).
That was mainly due to the superior height advantage that 6-foot-10 forward Julius Ashby and the lanky Wilfred Benjamin held over Barbados frontcourt, which was exploited from the opening tip.
The game was effectively over within the first four minutes when Trinidad scored 17 points without reply against the overwhelmed Bajans. The Trini Twin Towers dominated the offensive glass, combining for 15 first quarter points between them in the paint.
Rowe finally put an end to Barbados scoring drought at the 5:30 mark, but he proved to be Barbados lone threat as Jeremy Gill and Jason Smith were part of a woeful one for 12 effort beyond the arc.
However, the burly Rowes weight began to take its toll and so too did Barbados switch to a 2-3 zone defence. The entry of Zahir Motara off the bench also improved their appalling shooting as the Bajans managed to reduce the massive deficit to just six points (30-24) early in the second.
Only that Ashby put a swift end to the brief rally just moments later, scoring five unanswered points as part of a 12-2 run to rebuild Trinidads double-digit advantage (42-30) by the half-time intermission.
And the writing was on the wall when Steven Lewis started the third by catching an impressive alley-oop along the baseline before hooking up with Benjamin on the inside to highlight an initial 6-2 run at the start of the subsequent third quarter.
Reserve Bajan forward George Haynes briefly threatened, cutting the lead to ten (50-40) before Barbados needlessly went back to hoisting ill-advised threes against their opponents packed in half court defence.
Trinidads length on the inside made it difficult to get the ball into Rowe, Haynes and Kelvin Patterson down low, while Gill and Smith couldnt make the opposition pay for ignoring them from deep.
The result was an eventual backbreaking 13-4 run that saw the Bajans fall into an unassailable 17-point hole (61-44) heading into the fourth.
Once there, the contest turned into a laugher as Ashby and Reginald George walked through for successive dunks to push their sides advantage past 30 (83-52) and complete the rout.
Ashby led all scorers with 22 points and 11 rebounds, Benjamin had a double-double of his own, finishing with 17 points and 17 boards while Trinidad point guard Ian Young also scored 17.
Motara top-scored for Barbados with 16 points, while Smith and Gill both added 11 points apiece but on a combined eight for 36 from the field to highlight their sides 15 percent shooting beyond the arc.
After two successive losses, Barbados can only move on to the semis if they upend the favoured Jamaicans by a similar margin in their final Group A encounter and hope that Trinidad also rout Bahamas.
CBC, day 3: Barbados - Jamaica 74-96
That was the crucial win for Jamaica, who finished the Preliminary Round as No.2 in Group A with 2-1 record. The Jamaicans will meet No.1 of Group B (Cuba) in the Semifinals. Barbados ended the first stage winless having poor 0-3. It will continue in classification round trying to improve and maybe to reach the fifth place. However, it won't be an easy job as they will have to beat Antigua first and after that Bahamas or Bermudas [read more]
CBC, day 3: Barbados - Jamaica 74-96
That was the crucial win for Jamaica, who finished the Preliminary Round as No.2 in Group A with 2-1 record. The Jamaicans will meet No.1 of Group B (Cuba) in the Semifinals. Barbados ended the first stage winless having poor 0-3. It will continue in classification round trying to improve and maybe to reach the fifth place. However, it won't be an easy job as they will have to beat Antigua first and after that Bahamas or Bermudas. Andre Smith (188-G-80, college: NC-Asheville) stepped up for Jamaica yesterday scoring 18 points. Kimani Ffriend (211-C-77, agency: Court Side, college: Nebraska) also was good netting 16, while Samardo Samuels (203-F-89) added 15 pts and 7 boards. Oritseweyinmi Efejuku followed them netting 13 points. In Barbados, Jeremy Gill (183-G-81) was way better than the others delivering 24 points. Andre Lockhart (183-G-86, college: Rust) had 14 and Kelvin Patterson (194-F-77) contributed with 9 pts. Jamaica was better rival during the entire time. Each of four quarters Jamaicans ended with bigger and bigger lead. During the last 10 minutes they totally slowed down, and despite that finished it 19-21. That was totally deserved 74-96 victory.
BARBADOS were just inches away from pulling off one of their greatest comebacks at the Caribbean Basketball Championships.Now the Bajans have it all to do on their road to redemption [read more]
BARBADOS were just inches away from pulling off one of their greatest comebacks at the Caribbean Basketball Championships.
Now the Bajans have it all to do on their road to redemption.
Barbados heroically erased all but two of a daunting 13-point fourth quarter deficit before Jeremy Gills potential game-winning 30-foot shot perilously hit back iron at the final horn, allowing the Bahamas to hold on for a dramatic 75-73 in their opening Group A encounter at the Multipurpose Complex in Road Town on Tuesday.
That agonizingly long trey from way behind the arc brought a heartbreaking end to a memorable fourth quarter performance from the men in ultramarine and blue, where Bahamas were outscored 21-10 in that final period and 11-5 over the last 5:10.
What began with burly forward/centre Kelvin Patterson dominating offensively, continued with a suddenly resurgent George Haynes and culminated with Jefferson Trotmans superb lock-down perimeter defence as Barbados whittled down their oppositions 65-52 advantage within minutes.
Bahamas had seemingly halted their untimely slide when Quentin Hall made Trotman pay for doubling off him before Hall hooked up with Jeffrey Henfield for a subsequent alley-oop in transition to push the lead back to eight (74-66).
However, the Bahamians only added a further point the rest of the way as captain Zahir Motara immediately hit a three off the bench while Andre Lockhart found Gill for a backdoor lay-up preceding Gills crowd-pleasing handoff to Haynes in the paint.
But Barbados never found that game-tying basket after ill-advisedly going away from Patterson on the inside, failing to score on four successive possessions that culminated with Gill missing an uncontested lay-up with 33 seconds remaining.
Gill was presented a chance at redemption though when Haynes gave him the outlet pass off an ensuing defensive rebound on the following possession, but the subsequent last-second shot from just past half-court narrowly missed the intended target.
Earlier, Barbados suspect man-to-man and transition defence was seriously exposed early on as Hinds was left open for three successive jumpers on the left wing.
It was part of a perfect six for six start by the Bahamians that led an initial 14-6 opening run and a telling 27-16 advantage. Kelvin Patterson quickly countered though, leading Barbados to score seven unanswered at the end of the quarter, ending with George Haynes huge one-handed slam through the middle.
And if Barbados awful man marking was revealed, then their oppositions poor perimeter shooting was similarly undressed by a subsequent 2-3-zone defence as the Bajans cut the deficit to only two (34-32) midway in the ensuing period by keeping Bahamas out of the open floor.
Barbados slowed the game to a crawl, dumping the ball in the paint to burly 68 centre Sydney Rowe, whose size and width proved too much for the smaller, opposing frontcourt to contend with.
However, Haynes got tentative thereafter, passing up several open looks while Gill was widely ineffective from the field thus stalling the sides half court offence.
And once the Bahamians began to push the ball off Barbados misses then forward Scott Forbes finally flourished, beating the slower Rowe and Patterson for easy scores and working the baseline off his guards drive-and-dish.
Bahamas restored their lead to 43-37 by the break before Henfield broke their drought from beyond the arc, sparking a huge 14-2 run in the third that stretched the advantage to double digits.
Patterson led the losing effort with 15 points, with Rowe adding 13 while Haynes and Gill both scored 12 points apiece. Hinds 15 was the top-score for Bahamas.
Barbados must now defeat both Trinidad and Jamaica in their remaining Group A contests if they are to have any chance at qualifying for the semi-finals and despite the heartbreak, head coach Adrian Craigwell believes his side will rebound in those two games.
It was a tough one to lose but I dont think our spirit is down enough for us not to comeback, expressed a heartfelt Craigwell.
This is one we definitely wanted and we didnt get it, but it doesnt end here.
Barbados fell at 0-2 in Group A - Jul 2, 2009 [read more]
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