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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

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Hepburn, Hall satisfied with FIBA Americas outing By DAHALIA SMITH ~ NG Sports Reporter ~ dahalia@nasguard.com: The Bahamas Basketball Federation (BBF) hosted a welcome reception this past Tuesday to laud the under-16 national boys team for its historic achievement at the FIBA Americas Championships which wrapped up in Mendoza, Argentina, on Sunday. Present at the reception, held at the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA), were the players' families and friends, along with BBF President Lawrence Hepburn and other BBF executives. The team made history when it defeated Mexico, 87-83, in overtime on the final day of play at the tourney. It was a historic accomplishment because The Bahamas had not recorded a win during its three previous showings at a FIBA Americas tourney. The under-16 team finished seventh overall. Prior to travel, a better showing was anticipated by BBF executives and Head Coach Quintin Hall as the expectation was based on the size of the team in terms of height, and also because of talent. However, after the losses were recorded during regular pool play against Argentina (106-72), Mexico (84-73) and Canada (88-69), reaching the medal rounds were not an option. It seems as if poor starts in three of those pool matches, adversely affected Team Bahamas. In the opening quarter against Argentina, The Bahamas trailed 24-8 after the first quarter, and got into a 32-6 hole at the start of the game against Canada. The team was also behind 15-13 against Mexico. The only game in which The Bahamas won, the score was tied 21-21 by the end of the first quarter. Hall explained the reason for the poor starts. "Whenever you see teams have bad opening quarters it means that there is no cohesiveness. In the opening quarters we struggled but as the games went on we were able to find that chemistry. Furthermore, poor long range shooting can be blamed for the losses. When it comes to shooting well, there must first be a lot of trust established amongst the team members. Also, at least a month's worth of practice is needed to properly prepare for tournaments like this," noted Hall. Hepburn, who treated the team to lunch after their arrival, agreed, noting that had the team had more practice time, the overall result would have been better. "As the tournament went on the scoring improved. Furthermore in many of the games the team made impressive runs late in the second half, was able to reduce the scoring deficits and lost by few points," he said. "In the end, sending the team to this tournament was well worth it. Many of them gained much needed exposure. In fact, many international basketball scouts attended the tournament and have expressed interest in some of our players," said Hepburn. Hepburn further noted that some of the under-16 players would now go on to try out for the under-17 national team which is expected to travel to the Centro Basket Championships in Mexico, from July 21-25. Also, a few of the key players on the under-16 team were invited to try out for the senior men's national team scheduled to play at the Caribbean Basketball Championships set for the British Virgin Islands. That four-day senior tourney starts June 30. One of those key players is Michael Carey, who missed the prestigious Nike Invitational Camp where all of the top high school players in the United States are invited to earn national rankings, while he was in Argentina. He noted: "I don't regret missing the Nike event because I gained a lot of exposure and there were a lot of international scouts there." Thursday, June 25, 2009