The United States Virgin Islands, ISV, Senior Men’s Basketball Team had a second bite of the apple on Thursday night as they squared off one more time against Wagner College from Staten Island, New York.
Nineteen turnovers coupled with poor shooting from behind the arc hurt ISV and led to a 10-point loss in the first game played at the Elridge Blake Sports and Fitness Center on Wednesday evening.
On Thursday, ISV felt more at home, nailing 11 3-pointers and tallying 16 assists in their 82-76 win to the delight of second-year Head Coach Edniesha Curry. “Definitely we showed improvement from game one to game two. We were much better in our execution, passing the ball and we shot really well tonight.”
Point guard Miguel Arnold paced the home team, scoring 21 points. Shaquan Jules added 13, including a jaw-dropping put-back dunk that electrified the crowd. Rahir Moore and Tyje Kelton led the visiting Seahawks with 19 and 14 points, respectively, in a losing effort.
This two-game series served as exhibition games as the Virgin Islands men prepare to play in the Pre-Olympic qualifier in Argentina later this month. The team will stay together on St. Thomas and train until they leave for Argentina on Aug. 10. Curry is confident that her young team can do well at this tournament, as they demonstrated in multiple international tournaments last summer.
“The competition is always going to be great when playing in FIBA. The competition that we faced last year when we played World Cup from Brazil to Nicaragua and over to El Salvador, we played well against the bigger teams. We just haven’t been finishing games,” said Curry. “These games against Wagner, a good defensive team, really pushed us and that is what we needed.”
The team opens play on Monday, Aug. 14 against Chile at 5:10 p.m. local time. Colombia is their second game on Tuesday, Aug. 15 at 6:10 p.m. local time. Their final game in pool play is on Thursday, Aug. 17 against Uruguay at 7:40 p.m. Eastern Standard time. Bahamas, Cuba, Panama, and host Argentina are in the second pool of the tournament. The top team will move on to the next round.
