Coach Vincent demands final push against hosts today

CARACAS, Venezuela — By the time Jamaica face hosts Venezuela in the FIBA Americas Championship game at 7:00 pm (Jamaica time), they will be eliminated from semi-final contention here.

The JamRockerZ’ 89-100 loss to Central American giants Mexico in their penultimate game of the second round, inside the Poliedro de Caracas yesterday, was the final nail in the coffin for a team that has fought admirably.

Sam Vincent’s team has lost two matches to go with a lone victory — against champions Argentina — so far in the second round. They also recorded only one win, albeit against the mighty Brazil, during the preliminary round.

Head coach Vincent is calling for a final push from his players as they close out a historic campaign at the Championship.

“For the Venezuela game we got to come out and make one more hard push. Beating Brazil and Argentina was more than anyone expected from Jamaica in this tournament. But now we need to finish on a very high note,” he told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

The Jamaicans, competing at the FIBA Americas level for the first time, created further history by defeating Brazil and Argentina, but though matching the Mexicans for most of game, they just could not contain their opponents’ fantastic shooting in the fourth quarter.

Jamaica led 20-19 and 46-44, respectively, at the end of the opening two quarters, but Mexico, who shot an outstanding 15/26 from beyond the three-point arc throughout the game, rallied in the third and led 69-68 heading into the final period.

Jamaica’s centre Jerome Jordan, who lit up proceedings with several thumping slam dunks, was impressive while scoring 24 points from 8/9 shooting. He also hauled down six rebounds.

Patrick Ewing Jr scored all of his 17 points, including a buzzer beating jump shot at the midway interval, in the first half before his nagging right shoulder injury was aggravated in the third quarter. Point guard Akeem Scott also had 17 points.

Hector Hernandez starred for Mexico with 25 points.

Vincent cited the absence of Milan-bound Samardo Samuels, who watched the game from the stands, and the injury to Ewing as crucial factors.

“The Mexico team is a very good team. I thought the guys played really hard, but from a personnel standpoint — the fact that Samardo was out — we were really short and then with Patrick at half [his potential]. In the fourth quarter their [Mexico’s] experience and their talent took over,” Vincent said.

With the one point given for a loss, Jamaica joined Uruguay on seven points, while the two awarded to Mexico provisionally moved them into top position on 10.

Puerto Rico and Argentina follow with nine points each, while Canada, Dominican Republic and Venezuela are all locked on eight.

Up to press time, Dominican Republic were set to face Canada, and Venezuela were scheduled to entertain Puerto Rico, which means the standings will change based on those final results.

The four semi-finalists at the FIBA Americas Championship automatically advance to the 2014 basketball World Cup in Spain.