Aug. 1, 2007 — The Dominican Republic outlasted the Virgin Islands 77-65 in both teams opener in the 2007 Centro Basket Under 17 Tournament that began Tuesday at the Emilio Huyke Gymnasium in Humacao, Puerto Rico.
Originally the Virgin Islands were set to face Costa Rica in the opener, but — along with Guatemala — the Costa Rica team failed to show up. So the organizers decided to make the tournament a round-robin format with the six teams in attendance.
Under this format, every team will play each other once, with the top three teams advancing to the Tournament of the Americas.
The V.I. team was plagued with missed shots and turnovers the entire game. The team shot an abysmal 30 percent in two-point field goals and 28 percent from beyond the three-point arc.
The teams shooting woes and turnovers came from its biggest players. Star point guard James "Nene" Sneed struggled all night from the field, going 1 for 17 from the field, including 0 for 10 from long distance. He had a whopping eight turnovers. Lamar Bough went 5 for 19 and tallied five turnovers.
The Dominicans led 34-26 at the half, but in the third quarter they outscored the V.I. team 22-11 to enter last the 10 minutes with a comfortable 56-37 advantage.
In spite of their defeat, the Virgin Islands had four players in double digits: Olani Vanterpool had 16 points, Curtio Fredericks 14, Lamar Bough 14 and Ashai Mathurin added 10 points and nine rebounds.
Yohansi Minaya led the Dominicans with 16 points, while Kelvin Valdez added 15.
On Wednesday the V.I. team was set to face host team Puerto Rico, they then play Trinidad and Tobago Thursday, the Bahamas on Friday and Mexico on Saturday.
The Virgin Islands team roster:
Guard James "Nene" Sneed, Educational Complex
Guard Earvin Bonit, Educational Complex
Forward Kyle Sylvester, Educational Complex
Forward Devon Lake, Charlotte Amalie
Forward Ashai Mathurin, Charlotte Amalie
Guard Curtio Fredericks, Charlotte Amalie
Guard Aubrey Daniel, Bertha C. Boschulte
Guard O'lani Vanterpool, Central High
Guard Irayn Williams, Central High
Guard Taaron Jones, Central High
Guard Lamar Bough, New Rochelle (NY)
Forward Shoquan Stevens, Maloney High (CT)
Head Coach: Jareem Dowling, Cecil Community College
Asst. Coach: Pedrito Estrill, Charlotte Amalie
Asst. Coach: Alvarn Jarvis, Central High
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