Jamaica’s men’s basketball head coach, Rick Turner, said the 96-99 home loss to The Bahamas was “super disappointing” as the team had a minor setback in their quest to advance to the FIBA World Cup Americas Qualifying second round.

A win for Jamaica and Canada would have secured both teams’ places in the second round, but now Jamaica will have to wait and now faces a difficult test against Canada on Sunday.

Canada defeated Puerto Rico 96-85 and jumped to the top of Group B with six points. Jamaica are second with five points, with the Bahamas third with four points. Puerto Rico are fourth with three points, having lost all three games. The scoring system is two points for a win and one for a loss.

“We worked really hard to put ourselves in a position to bring big-time basketball to Jamaica, and then to go out there and not really put our best foot forward is just super disappointing,” said Turner. 

In a game of 15 lead changes, Jamaica led 28-26 after the first quarter, 55-53 at the halftime break, then 81-77 heading into the fourth quarter, but was outscored 22-15 by the Bahamas and lost 96-99.

“But with that said, you know, the team we played, our opponent was a really, really good basketball team, and we knew that coming into the game,” Turner pointed out.

“We had a really good idea of what they were going to do, and they did it, and we didn’t answer the call,” a disappointed Turner pointed out. “I mean, it’s basketball, and there are ups and downs. But just the fact that we blew this opportunity in front of so many people is just a real disappointment.”

With the NBA players not available, shooting guard Chase Audige top-scored for Jamaica with 27 points, and centre Kofi Cockburn got 18 points. Power forward Tyran De Lattibeaudiere scored 15 points.

Franco Miller starred for the Bahamas, scoring 32 points, and Tavario Miller scored 22 points.

Jamaica will go against Canada, and the Bahamas take on Puerto Rico. The top three teams from the four groups will advance to the next round of 12 teams and be placed into two groups of six.

Then the top three teams from the two groups advance to the FIBA World Cup, along with the seventh best placed team based on points and statistics, will join them.