Sport

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (CMC):

Jamaica failed in their bid to reach the semi-finals of the Centrobasket Championship nd earn a place at the 2011 FIBA-Americas Championship, when Panama prevailed 55-51 in their final Group A match on Saturday at the Virgil Soto Sports Complex.

Both sides finished with a 2-2 record in the group stage, but the Panamanians advanced on the tie-break rule, with a better goal average.

The Jamaicans led 12-10 after the first quarter and at half-time they were ahead 24-20, but two things decided the match.

Jamaica's poor long-range shooting - they scored 0-11 from three-point land - and Panama's dominance of the boards 39-26.

Danilo Pinnock netted 19 points, 11 of them in the second half, to lead Panama to victory.

Akeem Scott led Jamaica's effort with 14 points and seven rebounds, with Damion Staple supporting with 11 points.

Third loss

In the next match, Trinidad & Tobago slumped to their third loss, when Cuba won 90-60 to finish with a record of 2-2 and ease into the semi-finals.

T&T fell behind early and were trailing 11-27 after the first quarter. They never recovered in the second period to trail 31-52 at half-time, before the Cubans forged further ahead to lead 72-49 after the third stanza.

For T&T, Ian Young finished with 18 points, but Allens Jemmott scored a match-high 24 points, followed by Orestes Torres with 15 and Yudniel Perez with 13 for the winners.

In the final match of the day, the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) were outclassed when hosts Dominican Republic completed the group stage with a 98-88 victory.

Offensive attack

The USVI were outrun in the final 10 minutes, when the DR with a balanced offensive attack and dominance inside earned the hard-fought win.

The American territories had trailed 20-21 after the first quarter, but transformed that into a 43-42 lead at half-time and a 61-60 advantage after three quarters.

But the USVI ran out of steam in a tense match and the Dominicanos finished with a 4-0 record to qualify for the semi-finals and FIBA-Americas Championship, along with the Cubans, Panama and Puerto Rico.

In the other match, Puerto Rico stopped Belize 96-88, despite the presence of NBA star Milt Palacio in the losers' line-up and his match-high 24 points.