Trinidad and Tobago 3x3 basketballers cop historic Pan Am bronze

AHKEEL Boyd’s long-range, two-point shot fired Trinidad and Tobago’s men’s 3x3 basketball team to Pan Am bronze at the Estadio Espanol in Santiago, Chile, on Monday.

Boyd’s heroics came after TT gave up an early seven-point lead, and was forced to fight tooth and nail in the final seconds of the ten-minute contest, to salvage a 21-20 win over Venezuela, and a welcomed podium spot.

This was TT’s first medal of the Games and the team’s debut performance on the Pan Am stage.

When action tipped off in the third-place playoff, TT had a great start as the quartet of Moriba De Freitas, Chike Augustine and siblings Ahkeel and Ahkeem Boyd sank five early points before Venezuela responded.

Swift feet and crafty moves from Ahkeem and good defending from De Freitas extended their lead to 8-1 but then TT dropped their guard and the South Americans clawed back into it.

From 13-9 up, TT allowed Venezuela to level the score, and the lead shifted back and forth until the final whistle.

With 35 seconds to go, Ahkeem scored to give TT a 19-18 advantage. However, a foul on Nelson Palacios offered Venezuela two free throws, which they easily scored and took the lead; now just one point away from victory.

But the TT contingent would have none of it, and as the clock ticked away, Ahkeel risked it all with a long-range effort that sailed through the net, and with it, Venezuela’s hopes of making good on their comeback.

Ahkeel’s final shot lifted the couple hundreds of spectators to their feet in celebration of the team’s first-ever Pan Am Games medal. Ahkeel cried tears of joy as coach Christopher Charles congratulated his players on the court.

National Basketball Federation of TT vice president of organising and development Daron Lall was over the moon and said the fraternity appreciates every effort the team put out.

“We are extremely proud of our team. These guys have been working extremely hard over the last eight to ten weeks. We played some powerhouses.

“Thank you to the team and the coaching staff for all they did. We know the struggles they went through and the obstacles that happened but we are grateful as a country for putting us on the map. It’s emotional.”

In their semi-final test against eventual winners USA, who successfully defended their title, earlier on Monday, TT had a good start but were outplayed by the more experienced Americans. Despite scoring the first point, USA quickly went ahead with a two-pointer.

TT regained the lead for the last time to make it 3-2, then USA turned it on. TT, however, did well to create scoring chances but missed shots, a couple of bad passes and failure to convert rebounds paid off dearly in the end.

At 12-6, with just under six minutes to go, USA kept at it, and only allowed TT to score three more points, as they dominated and raced to 21-9, with just under two and a half minutes remaining.

Meanwhile, at the Centro Acuatico, TT swimmer Nikoli Blackman had another tough day in the pool as the settled for sixth place in the men’s 100m freestyle B final. He clocked 50.81s.

In the earlier heats, Blackman placed sixth in heat three of four, in 51.01s. His time was 17th fastest overall but good enough for the B final. Racing out of heat four was compatriot Zarek Wilson, who was eighth fastest to the wall in 58.37s.

Blackman returns to the pool on Tuesday, from 8.10am, for the opening round of men’s 50m free qualification. He swims out of lane six of heat three of five.

Additionally, TT swimmer Cherelle Thompson lines up in heat three of five of the women’s 50m freestyle, swimming out of lane five, from 8.02am.

In tennis, Yolande Leacock had a rough start to her women’s singles campaign as she was outclassed 6-0, 6-0 by Peruvian Anastasia Iamachkine.

Also on Tuesday, track cycling gets underway as endurance Akil Campbell gears up for a full complement of omnium events – scratch, tempo, elimination and points races.