The Guyana senior men’s basketball team suffered their second consecutive loss in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Pre-Qualifiers, losing to powerhouse Jamaica 107-87 last evening at the José Adolfo Pineda National Gymnasium in El Salvador.
It was another unfortunate outcome for the Guyanese following their opening night loss to Central American nation Nicaragua by an 84-73 score on Thursday at the same venue.
Anthony Moe top scored for Guyana with 25 points, with captain Stanton Rose recording 19 points, eight rebounds and Delroy James tallying 18 points and five assists. Contributing 12 points and six rebounds was Deylon Bovell.
For the Jamaicans, Omari Johnson led the way with 26 points and seven rebounds while Marcel Thomas and Romaine Thomas added 21 and 18 points respectively. Chipping in with 11, 11 and eight points apiece were Stefan Whittingham, Adrian Mike and Warren Williams respectively.
Guyana got off to the perfect start as they outscored the Jamaicans in the first period 24-20. However, Jamaica responded in the second stanza, recording 27 points while restricting Guyana to 18 points to secure a 47-42 halftime lead.
Jamaica then built on their advantage in the pivotal third stanza, as they outshot Guyana 31-15 to enter the final period firmly in control at 78-57. Guyana was unable to overcome the substantial deficit in the final period as they marginally outscored Jamaica 30-29.
Guyana will now resume their campaign today against the host nation El Salvador from 21:00hrs, with their final group match occurring against Costa Rica from 21:00hrs one day later.
The first round of qualifiers will be conducted utilising a group format, with the top three finishers progressing to the second round of qualifiers set for July.
