Hot shooting from Manhattan Jaspers forward, Warren Williams, provided just a drop in the bucket as Jamaica suffered a lopsided 52-94 defeat at the hands of Nicaragua, at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Central American and Caribbean Pre-Qualifiers on Saturday.

Williams was an immovable force on the low block, as he scored 24 points off 63 percent shooting, and was just shy of a double-double after also grabbing 9 rebounds.  He was, however, the only Jamaica player in the line-up to get to double figures.

The effort was dwarfed by the Nicaraguan trio of Jared Ruiz, Norchad Omier, and Larel Pacheco.  Ruiz led the way with 26 points but also filled out the rest of the stat sheet with 9 rebounds and 5 assists.  Omier and Pacheco were perfect from the field, scoring 14 and 12 points, respectively.  Omier also grabbed 13 rebounds to register a useful double-double.

The Central Americans got off to a strong start and found themselves leading the Caribbean team 27-11 at the end of the first quarter and led 49-21 by halftime, before cruising the rest of the way to victory.

The loss was the first of the tournament for the Jamaicans, who recorded a 69-67 win over Costa Rica in their opener and a 107-87 win over Guyana.