Belize's national basketball team won the first game of the Centrobasket tournament being played at the Palacio de los Deportes Virgilio Travieso Soto, Dominican Republic.
The final score was Belize, 80 to 71 for Trinidad and Tobago.
Veteran national team players Alex Carcamo and Milton Palacio led the scoring with 16 points each. The difference in the game was free throw shooting as the Trinidadians shot 36% from the line, while Belize shot 76%. Belize was badly outscored on second chance points 25 to 4.
Still it's a win, and Belize plays Mexico tomorrow which is expected to be a more difficult matchup - as Mexico has won the last three games against Belize, most recently in the controversial finish at the COCABA championships in Cancun last year.
But in this tournament, the Mexico game is considered a must-win and as the key players explained at a friendly game on Friday night, they are going to need to win the first three games at Centrobasket to be in optimal position to qualify:
Alex Carcamo, Player
"They given us a chance in this tournament where we play Puerto Rico last and at that point the last game can determine whether we going to be 1 or 2, so it's important for us to win these 3 games first and we can go into Puerto Rico whether we win or not we'll still advance so it's very important."
Milton Palacio, Player
"I am expecting us to play tough, I am expecting us to qualify I am not saying that we are going out there and totally win the whole tournament but I am expecting us to play tough and qualify. I think if we get top 4 anything could happen."
The top four teams out of Centrobasket qualify for the 2011 FIBA Americas Championship which is an Olympic qualifier, the top eight for the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games Puerto Rico and the top three for the 2011 Pan-American Games in Mexico.
So as Milt Palacio noted Belize doesn't have to win the tournament, it can come in fourth and still keep its Olympic dream alive. But it will have to do so without Marlon Garnett, Belize's best shooter and the man who scored 41 points and made ten three pointers in the COCABA championship game in Cancun last year.
7news has learned that after a protracted back and forth, Garnett was left off the roster after he and the Belize Basketball Federation could not reach an agreement on insurance for his future earnings. Garnett who played in Iran last year demanded that this must be in place before he got on the court. The Belize Basketball Federation did get an unlimited injury insurance package for the entire team, but - as we understand it - Garnett wasn't satisfied with that.
Garnett who was flown to Belize for the tournament headed back to the United States today.
That's the loss of significant scoring input and the team management today had to make a last minute activation of Belize's other prolific scorer, veteran Darwin Carter. He last played for Belize in 2006 in a failed bid for the COCABA championships. In that tournament, the team lost but he racked up thirty plus points in multiple games.
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