Dominican Republic rallies in 4th to defeat USVI men’s hoops team
Published: July 27, 2010
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QUEBRADILLAS, Puerto Rico — The U.S. Virgin Islands senior men’s basketball team put on a scoring display Monday to open the Central American and Caribbean Games, but it fell short in the fourth quarter and dropped a heartbreaker.
Walter Hodge scored a team-high 27 points for the USVI while Jason Edwin added 23, but the Dominican Republic rallied in the final quarter to pull out a 103-98 victory at Coliseo Raymond Dalmau in the first game of the tournament for both teams.
The USVI will meet Panama, which beat the British Virgin Islands in its first game, today at 9 p.m. The the USVI and BVI will then do battle Wednesday at 4 p.m. to wrap up group play. The medal round is slated for Thursday.
“I think we showed tonight that we’re capable of scoring on anyone,” said USVI coach Milton Barnes, whose team held a 10-point lead going into the fourth. “We just could not get a stop in the end, which is frustrating. Down the stretch, our inexperience showed.”
Yack Martinez dropped a game-high 32 points for the D.R., which outscored the USVI, 33-18, in the final period.
At the 2010 FIBA Centrobasket Championship in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic two weeks ago, the D.R. bounced the USVI from that tournament with a 98-88 win. The USVI held a lead in the beginning of the fourth quarter of that game as well.
“It was almost identical to that game,” Barnes said. “We had some players make some bad decisions again and all you can do is hope they grow up and learn from the mistakes.”
The D.R. was without NBA player Charlie Villanueva this time around, which may have opened up the paint for the USVI big men.
The team shot an impressive 57 percent (39-for-69) from the floor, which has also been the best shooting performance from the USVI since Barnes took over two months ago.
Jerome Gumbs had 17 points and seven rebounds for the USVI while Theo Little pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. The USVI will be without forward Frank Elegar for the tournament. Elegar is on the national team roster, but had to attend to family obligations.
— Contact sports reporter Aaron Gray at 774-8772 ext. 352 or e-mail agray@dailynews.vi.
