Venezuela gets a step closer to the World Cup after crushing Bahamas

CARACAS (Venezuela) – Venezuela made a statement in their first game of the final window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Americas Qualifiers, dominating against Bahamas 115-70 and solidifying their place as one of the best teams in the Americas.

 

Heading into this window Venezuela looked to finish off their campaign strong as they entered their game against Bahamas tied with both Dominican Republic and Argentina with 7-3 records, and was level on points differential to Dominican Republic with 93 points.

In the first half of the first quarter, Bahamas took control of the play and it looked like Venezuela would have some difficulty trying to finish with a better record than two other strong Group E teams, but just four minutes after tip-off Venezuela took the lead and didn’t look back.

Out of the gate Venezuela dominated from the long game, shooting 55 percent from the arc by halftime with Nestor Colmenares and Yohanner Sifontes on fire from the three-point line. The two already managed to score in double-digits by halftime with Jose Materan not far behind.

Bahamas had some offensive firepower of their own early with Domnick Bridgewater dominating every offensive possession for his country tallying 14 points early, but as only five other players managed to find the scoresheet in the first half and none adding more than six points each, Bahamas found themselves down 30 points at the half which was too much to overcome.

One thing that Bahamas overpowered Venezuela with was their offensive boards, as even though Venezuela dominated the defensive boards, Bahamas still managed 14 second chance points in the half, but were killed on turnovers allowing 23 points for Venezuela off 14 turnovers.

Despite their offensive woes, Bahamas played better defense in the second half and limited Venezuela from the three-point line, holding them to 41 percent going 17-of-41 from long and just 11 offensive rebounds.

 

But their lack of bench depth – and Venezuela’s strong bench – were the difference in the game, along with Venezuela’s physicality that allowed them to score over 40 points off of turnovers by the final buzzer.

Sifontes finished the game with three steals as Venezuela’s quick feet and fast transitions helped them score baskets on the run that Bahamas could not find an answer for, while Bahamas themselves couldn’t generate much offense.

Ahmad Pratt and Bradley Nairn picked up the pace for Bahamas as Pratt scored 16 points in just 12 minutes of play in the second half, while Nairn added five points to his five points from the first half to finish the game in double digits.

For Venezuela, however, six different players finished the game with 12 points or more with David Cubillan scoring 11 points in just four minutes of play in the second half to bring his total to 16 points as Materan also finished with 16 points.

While neither team was overly busy on the boards as the boards were almost evenly split 44-42 in favor of Venezuela, Kentwan Smith finished with a near double-double of 9 points and 11 rebounds for Bahamas while Windi Graterol finished with a near double-double of his own for Venezuela with 14 points and 9 rebounds.

FIBA