The Panama men's national basketball team (Spanish: selección de baloncesto de Panamá) represents Panama in men's international basketball competitions,[2] The team represents both FIBA and FIBA Americas.
[3] 1968 Olympic Games: finished 12th among 16 teams Davis Peralta, Norris Webb, Luis Sinclair, Pedro Rivas, Eliecer Ellis, Calixto Malcom, Nicolás Noé Alvarado, Ernesto Arturo Agard, Francisco Checa, Julio Osorio, Pércibal Eduardo Blades, Ramón Reyes (Coach: Eugenio Luzcando) 1970 World Championship: finished 9th among 13 teams Davis Peralta, Luis Sinclair, Pedro Rivas, Ernesto Arturo Agard, Julio Osorio, Pércibal Eduardo Blades, Julio Andrade, Herbert Cousins, Ronald Walton, Cecilio Straker, Mario Peart, Hector Montalvo (Coach: Carl Pirelli Minetti) 1982 World Championship: finished 9th among 13 teams Ernesto "Tito" Malcolm, Rolando Frazer, Mario Butler, Rodolfo Gill, Fernando Pinillo, Reggie Grenald, Braulio Rivas, Arturo Brown, Mario Galvez, Adolfo Medrick, Eddie Joe Chávez, Alfonso Smith (Coach: Jim Baron) 1986 World Championship: finished 19th among 24 teams Ernesto "Tito" Malcolm, Mario Butler, Rolando Frazer, Reggie Grenald, Rodolfo Gill, Fernando Pinillo, Braulio Rivas, Adolfo Medrick, Cirilo Escalona, Mario Gálvez, Enrique Grenald, Daniel Macias (Coach: Frank Holness) 2006 World Championship: finished 21st among 24 teams Ed Cota, Rubén Garcés, Jaime Lloreda, Ruben Douglas, Michael Hicks, Maximiliano "Max" Gómez, Eric Omar Cardenas, Kevin Daley, Antonio Enrique García, Jair Peralta, Jamaal Levy, Dionisio Gómez (Coach: Guillermo Edgardo Vecchio) At the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship: During the late 1970s and early 1980s, various Panama players played their college basketball in the United States at NAIA school Briar Cliff College as part of head coach Ray Nacke's "Panama Pipeline".
These players helped Briar Cliff to many NAIA Regional Championships, National Tournament appearances, and in 1981 the Chargers were ranked No.
The local program is based in neighborhood leagues that collect talent and export it to the United States.
Usually underrated and underestimated, Panama Basketball always manages to qualify to big tournaments and give stunning surprises, such as beating the United States in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2007.