BVI edged out by Barbados in thrilling CBC clash

By VINO

BVI suffered their first loss of the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Men’s Championships when Barbados beat them 77-76. Photo: Kevin Dawson

BVI suffered their first loss of the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Men’s Championships when Barbados beat them 77-76. Photo: Kevin Dawson

The BVI failed in an epic come back attempt last night, Wednesday June 17, 2015 at the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Men’s Championships when they lost 77-76 to Barbados to suffer their first loss of the tournament in the Multi Purpose Sports Complex.

Up 14-9 at the end of the first quarter, behind 45-32 at the half, and down by 15 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the host nation got some inspiration from Bjorn Caleb, who struck back to back two’s to shift the momentum of the game.

Franklyn Penn Junior then brought the crowd to their feet with a two and a big shot from down town to make it a 10-point game. Kennedy H. Bass also went in from long range to bring the scores even closer and the BVI went ahead, 73-71, on another three from Kilven Samuel with 1:50 left on the clock.

Barbados went back into the lead on a series of free throws and a three from Keefe Birkett to make the score 77-76 with less than a minute to play

The BVI then missed a series of good chances to net the winner, with three attempts to score all going abegging until the buzzer sounded.

Randy ‘Chino’ George finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, Penn Junior 15 points, Samuel 12 with 7 rebounds and Steve E. Parillon 11

For Barbados, Birkett finished with 31 points and David Gill, 16.

Bermuda beat Guyana
Earlier, Bermuda, after briefly giving up the lead in the second half, upped its preliminary round record to 1-1 at the 2015 Caribbean Basketball Confederation Men’s Championship with a 74-65 victory over Guyana.

Bermuda led 15-9 after the first quarter and, after a Keron McKenzie three-pointer tied it for Guyana at 4:08 mark of the second, closed out the half on a 9-2 run to lead 32-23 at halftime.
Gordon James then gave Guyana its first lead since midway through the first quarter with a three-point play to make it 38-36 with 5:06 left in the third. But Bermuda went on a 5-0 run of its own to retake the lead. A three-pointer by Jason Simons, with :40 left in the third, stretched the lead to seven before the quarter ended with Bermuda up 50-45.

James got his team to within two with another three-point play at the 7:01 mark of the fourth, making the score 52-50, and then to within four at 61-57 with 4:19 to play, but Guyana would get no closer, scoring just two points over the next 2:19 minutes.

Sullivan Philips led Bermuda with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Christopher Crumpler scored 16, and Yusef Riley added 11. James led Guyana with 22 points. Akeem Kanhai pulled down 12 rebounds.

By Tortola2015.com
Bahamas remains undefeated with a win over Suriname 72-57
Eugene Bain led the way with 11 points and 9 rebounds, Torrington Cox, Michael Bain Jr, Leon Cooper and Magnun Rolle pitched in with 10 points respectively.

Despite a nice  start by both teams at the end of the first half Bahamas saw it’s team going into the locker rooms ahead 39-28.

For Suriname Bruce Mawuli Zamuel led the way with 11, Bahamas was able to hold of the fourth quarter charge by Suriname in the final 3:50 minutes of play with an 11- 5 run.

Virgin Islands moves to 3-0 with a win over St. Vincent 93-62
The Virgin Islands (2-0) used a 30-3 run that started with 6:20 left in the first quarter en route to a convincing 93-62 victory over St. Vincent and the Grenadines (1-2) in Group A of the 2015 Men’s Caribbean Basketball Confederation Championships at the Multi-sport Complex in Road Town, Tortola.
That run lasted until the 6:48 mark of the second quarter when Sean Baptiste was able to hit a three-pointer for St. Vincent.  The run-stopping shot did not seem to slow down the Virgin Islands as they took a 50-21 halftime advantage.
The Virgin Islands were led by Khalid Hart who scored a game high 21 points on 8-13 shooting, while Angel Rivera had 9 points and 10 assists. Also Craig Williams Jr. finished with 21 points and was 4-7 from downtown for the victors.
Baptiste led St. Vincent with 19 points.