Jamaica strikes back - CBC Champions

[by Kris SANTIAGO] - With a strong finish after a weak start into the Caribbean Basketball Championships, Jamaica made everything right and deserved to win the title for the fourth time.

Although head-coach Sam Vincent was quite sceptical on his team's short preparation prior to the CBC, the former-NBA player and coach now should be more than happy to see his team succeed after a troubled start in which Jamaica lost surprisingly to Trinidad & Tobago in group-play. But after trouncing Cuba 98-93 in the semis, the Jamaicans emerged as favorites to take the title back home although the hosts from the British Virgin Islands had the sixth man in their fans through the whole tournament.

Jamaican-Nigerian Weyinmi Efejuku netted in two crucial free-throws in the last seconds of the game to seal the victory for Jamaica who dominated the paint with the duo of Kimani Ffriend (11 points and 10 rebounds) and Samardo Samuels (17 points).

Guard Andre Smith caught a bad day regarding his shooting (only two field-goals out of 11) but dished out five assists to Samuels, Efejuku and Ffriend who took the major scoring load for Jamaica in this tournament.

Jamaica now moves on to compete in the "Centrobasket Championship" in 2010 altogether with the British Virgin Islands and Cuba (who pulled their ticket by beating Trinidad & Tobago in the third-place game) where they will go against the likes of Puerto Rico, the U.S.Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic to qualify for the FIBA Americas Tournament in 2011.

My personal tournament-teams look as follow:

CBC All-First Team
Ian Young (Trinidad & Tobago)
Weyinmi Efejuku (Jamaica)
Kennedy Bass (British Virgin Islands)
Samardo Samuels (Jamaica)
Geoffrei Silvestre (Cuba)

CBC All-Second Team
Alonzo Hinds (Bahamas)
Halstead Chiverton (British Virgin Islands)
Allens Jemmott (Cuba)
Julius Ashby (Trinidad & Tobago)
Kimani Ffriend (Jamaica)