Fresh off impressive victories over Haiti and Cayman Islands, Barbados’ Senior Men’s National Basketball Team is aiming to maintain its unbeaten start at the FIBA Americup 2029 Caribbean Pre-qualifiers in Guyana.
With only the group winners advancing to the next round, every game carries major importance as Barbados looks to secure top spot in Group B.
The senior men will face Grenada on Saturday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall before closing their campaign against St Vincent and the Grenadines on Sunday.
Speaking to the team’s media officials immediately following Thursday’s game against Haiti, Head Coach Charles Vanderpool was upbeat, after the team fought back to win what was expected to be one of their toughest encounters.
“I think this is a lot of hard work and we know this was our biggest hurdle to tackle in this competition. I think the effort from the guys was outstanding.
“Even when we went down early, no one put their heads down and we were always ready to show that we could compete with these teams,” Vanderpool said. “As small an island as we are, we have the talent.”
Coach Vanderpol says the way things have aligned for the team before and during the tournament has been amazing and he described it as divine intervention.
“When so many things line up in a positive way it has to be the work of God.
So I think that we have God’s blessing with us during this competition and we went through a lot to get to this stage. We went to Chile, we went to Mexico, and now we’re here.”
He revealed that the team endured some tough defeats during those trips but gained valuable lessons from the experiences.
Kyrone Alexander played a key role in Thursday’s win, as he grabbed a team high 35 points. He was elated to help secure the come from behind victory.
“Very proud of the performance today, I think the guys put in a lot of effort and attention to detail, even the subs coming in put in a lot of effort to uphold that same standard,” he said.
Like coach Vanderpool, Alexander cited last summer’s games in Chile as key to the team’s development. He says the Barbados squad is now far more cohesive and well drilled, as they look to maintain their unbeaten run and advance to the next round of qualifying.
(KH)
The post Barbados aim to stay unbeaten at FIBA Americup qualifiers appeared first on Barbados Today.
