ROAD TOWN, Tortola (CMC ) – Defending champions Bahamas extended their winning streak to two straight while St Vincent and the Grenadines rebounded from an opening-day loss to trounce Barbados on day two of the Caribbean Basketball Championships here Tuesday.Playing at the Multi-Sports Complex, the Bahamians recorded a convincing 89-69 victory over Guyana to follow up Monday’s victory over Bermuda.
St Vincent followed suit, withstanding a strong second half surge to overcome Barbados 70-63, and make amends for their hammering at the hands of hosts British Virgin Islands on Monday.
In other games played, Antigua and Barbuda cruised past Suriname 85-50 while BVI moved to a 2-0 record with a comfortable 92-78 triumph over Cayman Islands.
With momentum from their opening win, the Bahamas started strongly to lead 27-18 after the first quarter and 53-39 at the half. They relaxed in the third quarter but still led 74-42 heading into the final period of play.
The Bahamas were carried by Kentwan Smith who scored 18 points, Leon Cooper who got 15 points and captain Magnun Rolle who chipped in with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Torrington Cox came off the bench to score 11 points and grab four rebounds.
For Guyana, Dave Causeway was the high man with 19 points while Gordon James also had a huge game with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Barbados’ hopes of making a winning start to the tournament were dashed, when they made a weak start to fall behind 9-27 at the end of the first quarter. And though they won the remaining three quarters, the early damage had already been done, and they failed to recover in time.
For SVG, captain Sean Baptiste led with 21 points with Alexis Foyle chipping in with 19 points and Shawn King weighing in with ten points and 16 rebounds.
Barbados got a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds from Akeem Marsh while John Jones also got 14 points and Keefe Birkett, 11.
Antigua were also big winners in their game over Suriname, storming to a 51-22 lead at half-time before coasting down the stretch.
Kurt Looby led four starters in double figures with 13 points, with Jerome Richardson, Ernest Scott and Sharife Sergeant all scoring 11.