MEXICO— Jamaica gave up a first quarter lead and settled for sixth place in the FIBA Centrobasketball Under-17 Championship after being beaten 82-76 by Panama in their second Classification game at the Instituto del Deporte y la Cultura Fisica in Mexicali, Mexico today.

Jamaica led by two points after the first quarter (23-21) but Panama took over the lead by four points at half time (43-39) and widened the gap to nine points (67-58) at the end of the third quarter.

Jamaica trailed by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter before rallying to cut the deficit to five points with just under three minutes to go in the game, but failed to get any closer.       

Once against point guard London Johnson led the scoring for the Caribbean team with 34 points, playing all 40 minutes and also grabbed 13 rebounds and seven assists.

Marcus McDonald scored 13 points and Flawless Travers scored 12 points for Jamaica as Daeshawn Hannam, who fouled out late in the fourth quarter, and Romero Millis, both got six points.

Humberto Kentish led Panama with 16 points, six rebounds and six assists, as four others also scored in double digits—Fernando Gonzales scored 14 points and nine rebounds, Victor Julio scored 12 and Andres David Vergara Orocu scored 11 points.

Paul A Reid