T&T's hopes of qualifying for the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Puerto Rico, were dashed a day after failing in its efforts to advance to the semifinal stage of the 2010 Centrobasket Men's Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. T&T needing a win to qualify, was blown out by Cuba 90-60 in their last Group B encounter at the Palacio de los Deportes Stadium yesterday.
It was a combination of another poor shooting performance along with a barrage of turnovers which resulted in the biggest defeat of the tournament to date. T&T went 20/60 shots from the field, 4/14 from three point range and 16/23 from the free throw line, while committing 24 turnovers.
They were down by 16 at the end of the first quarter (27-11), and the lead increased to 21, (52-31) by the half. The third period was no different and the Cubans which was outplayed by Puerto Rico on Friday night, pushed the lead to 23, 61-38 at the end of the quarter. T&T cut the lead to 17, 74-57, however that was the closest they came as Cuba smelling victory, poured it on in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter to eventually send the lead to 30. This marked T&T's third defeat in its four games, and they ended the tournament at the bottom of Group B on five points. Allens Duquense led Cuba with 24 points, while Orestes Quiroz added 15 and Yudniel Perez Arango 13. Ian Young had 18 for T&T, with Joel Haywood 13.
