By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net    

The Bahamas senior men’s national basketball team will be looking to rely on the support of the home crowd as the team approaches the third and final window of the FIBA AmeriCup 2025 qualifiers in less than a month.

The host team will play a must-win game against Cuba in Group D on Thursday, February 20 at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium. The first game of the final window of play begins at 8:40pm.

In the following game, the team will match up against the USA at 7:10pm on Sunday, February 23.

With less than a month remaining until the start of competition, the Bahamas Basketball Federation (BBF) is making the necessary preparations for Team Bahamas according to president Eugene Horton.

“We are in the final stages of cutting our team and making arrangements for the guys to get in town and putting everything together. We are in the preparation stage. We have to get the gymnasium ready and we have to secure hotel and airline tickets to get the guys here to prepare for the game in February. We are trying to get an early start to make things as smooth as possible going into that,” he said.

The Bahamas currently owns 1-3 (win/loss record) in Group D play. The senior men’s national basketball team secured their first and only win of the qualifiers in the first window against Puerto Rico.

Team Bahamas won that contest 88-77 while enjoying the services of then National Basketball Association (NBA) free agent Kai Jones.

Although Jones is now playing for the Los Angeles Clippers and collegiate players playing in NCAA competition, Horton is expecting Bahamians playing in the euro leagues to shoulder the load for Team Bahamas.

“That is the plan. The US college players and NBA stars would not be available so we will be relying heavily on the pro players in Europe.We have a pretty good team that is gonna be assembled. In the next week or so we should be naming the final 24 and from there we will cut to the final twelve,” he said.

The host team will no doubt have to defeat Cuba in the first game of the third window as only the top three teams in the FIBA AmeriCup 2025 qualifiers will advance to the FIBA AmeriCup to be hosted in Managua, Nicaragua in August. 

The USA currently sits atop the Group D standings with a 3-1 record. Puerto Rico is second with a 2-2 record and Cuba is in third split at 2-2. The Bahamas is placed at the bottom of the group with a 1-3 record.

Previously, The Bahamas fell to both Cuba and the USA in the second window of competition.

The host team lost to the former 76-62 back in November and 97-74 to the latter in the following game.

Horton encouraged Bahamians to come out and support the national team next month.

“The game against Cuba on February 20 is going to be very important if we plan to advance. We have to beat them. We have the advantage because we are playing at home and are relying on all our fans to come out and support us…We are encouraging corporate sponsors, Team bahamas fans and family members to come out and support,” Horton said. 

Tickets sales began on Tuesday and can still be purchased online via https://linktr.ee/pr.bbf.