NASSAU (Bahamas) — V.J. Edgecombe Jr. had everything working for him on Monday’s FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Americas Qualifiers matchup against Panama. The fans in Sir Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium were treated to a show: the Edgecombe Jr. show.
After he didn’t travel with the team to Uruguay in the first game of Window 4, Edgecombe gave the Bahamian home crowd a stellar performance. He finished with 25 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in a 100-82 win. He made 9-of-16 shots, including going 7-of-11 from three-point range.
Of Edgecombe’s 25 points, 22 came in the first half on 8-of-10 shooting and a perfect 6-of-6 clip from beyond the arc. His 25 points mark the second-most points he has scored in his seven games for the Bahamian national team, falling just behind the 26 that he scored against Jamaica in Window 3.
He is just one of 10 players in Americas Qualifiers history to drain seven threes in a game. In fact, Edgecombe started the game 7-of-7 from beyond the arc before missing his next four attempts.
Edgecombe wasn’t the only Bahamian producing, though. Kai Jones, who was a game-high +28 +/-, finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 6 blocks, making him just the third player in Americas Qualifiers history to have a game with at least 6 blocks. He joins the Dominican Republic’s Joel Soriano from a Window 3 performance with 7 blocks and Chile’s Manuel Suarez from a December 2018 performance with 6 blocks.
In addition, Buddy Hield recorded 19 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals. Franco Miller added 13 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists. The Bahamas has scored at least 100 points in three of their last four games, aided by their surplus of offensive options.
Edgecombe’s incredible first-half made it a 52-34 contest entering halftime, with the lead even stretching to 23 points early in the third quarter. While Panama battled back to trim the lead to 11, they never truly threatened to take over.
Through three games in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Americas Qualifiers, Edgecombe is averaging an outstanding 23.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.
The Bahamas’ victory comes four days after defeating Uruguay 103-94, assuring that the nation of just over 400,000 people finished Window 4 with a perfect 2-0 record. It marked the first time that the Bahamas has finished undefeated in a single window in Americas Qualifiers history. The results move Bahamas to 4-4 in the Qualifiers, placing them fourth in Group F. They are two games behind Argentina, who sit in third.
In Window 5, the Bahamas will take on Argentina and Panama on the road. Notably, they will be without Edgecombe Jr., whose NBA season with the Philadelphia 76ers will be underway. Though they can qualify for the World Cup by being the better of the 4th-placed teams, they will want to make their way into third place by any means possible. This will mean continuing the momentum generated in Window 4 and getting wins in the final two windows.
FIBA