By Daniel Haynes

IN the first game of day 2 of the Caribbean Basketball Confederation Male U-16 Championships, the Bahamas extended their fine form by taking out the British Virgin Islands (BVI).
From the tip, the Bahamas held the edge with speed and height and took advantage of the slower and smaller BVI team. The first quarter saw Bahamas push the ball up the court, through their guards and score on interior play shots.

As the quarter waned, BVI could not mount any offence to match Bahamas’ stifling defence. The quarter ended 20-8.
BVI never found their rhythm and only turned in 9 points in comparison to Bahamas’ 20. The BVI players were always on the wrong end of the turnover stat line. The big men for Bahamas also dominated and the quarter ended 48-17.
Moving into the third quarter, Michael Cartwright came alive for the Bahamas hitting 3 threes. BVI looked out of sorts and dejected, this time only scoring 6 points to 31 from the Bahamas.
The last quarter showed some of BVI’s grit as they battled to score 17 points to lift their total to 40, while Bahamas scored 22 to push their total to 101. For the second consecutive game, the Bahamas scored over 100 points.
The game finished 101-40 and showed why Bahamas are the team to beat.
Bahamas take on Dominica tomorrow at 15:30hrs.
In the second game of the day, the fighting spirit underdogs Aruba team had shown in the first game against Guyana shone through in the second.
Taking on the boys from Trinidad & Tobago, Aruba showed that they were in the competition to compete. Coming back from a 9-point lead to win by 16 with a score of 77-59, the team secured their first win.
In the first quarter Trinidad and Tobago stormed out the gates, led by overseas-based Jordan Persad, who seemed on a mission.
Persad had 15 of 20 points for Trinidad and Tobago in the first quarter. However, Aruba managed to stay in the game through teamwork and passes to score 14 points. The quarter ended 20-14.
Persad stepped up his scoring in the second quarter with most of the team’s offence coming from him, whether it was punching the lane or hitting down jumpshots. He finished the quarter with another 15 points taking his total to 30 points at halftime.
The quarter finished at 44-36 in favour of Trinidad and Tobago. Aruba had done their part in keeping the game close through their team-work philosophy.
Coming out of halftime, Trinidad and Tobago struggled to find their shot, scoring only 6 points in the entire quarter. Persad seemed like a shadow of himself missing all but 2 of his attempts. It was Aruba’s Jahleel Heemstadt who bothered Persad on defence and Leonardo Winterdal who stepped up on offence.
The quarter finished 50-50 with Aruba fighting back to tie.
The fourth quarter was the quarter Aruba hit the gas and never took their feet off. Andre Bryson, Keneth Maduro and Winterdal all stepped up. Whether it was by three for Winterdal, or punching the lane for Maduro, or jumpshot by Bryson, Aruba were clicking. Trinidad failed to mount any offence and scored only 9 points. Aruba turned in 27.
Aruba who had trailed most of the game and who only took the lead in the 8th minute, had proved themselves. Taking the lead then opening the lead and maintaining it, Aruba had turned the tables and went on to win.
Aruba take on Suriname today at 17:45hrs.