Bermuda basketball assistant coach Tim Trott believes their inexperienced team will struggle to challenge the Caribbean's heavyweights until they have a busier fixture programme.The Islanders finished fifth out of nine nations at the Caribbean Basketball Championships in Bahamas at the weekend, with a record of four wins and two defeats.In the fifth-place play-off they claimed an 86-78 victory over Antigua and Barbuda to add to their group wins over St Vincent (75-56), Cayman Islands (54-48) and Guyana (68-58).Their pair of defeats came against British Virgin Islands (66-63) and hosts Bahamas (41-75). Roderick Spencer was the team's head coach at the tournament.Preventing Bermuda from playing more matches against high calibre opposition is a lack of funds, although Trott hopes they can organise an invitational tournament on the Island, finances permitting, in the not too distant future.“We need to be able to play against some of theses countries more regularly, whether that's through an invitational tournament in Bermuda or overseas,” said Trott. “We've gathered more than enough contacts at this competition to make that happen.“The main issue for us a lack of funding, as it is most Bermudian sports across the board. This trip, we managed to get some funding for our youth players, which was good.“But we're had to dig into our own pockets to help fund our last two tournaments: the Island Games and the Caribbean Championships.”Although Bermuda's defeat against British Virgin Islands cost them the chance to compete for medal honours, Trott said he was proud of his players' efforts, especially Sullivan Phillips whose considerable hoop skills inspired his team-mates.“I think we pretty much lived up to expectations.“We're disappointed because our defeat against British Virgin Islands cost us a place in the medal round, and that was a game we could have won. But overall I'm very pleased with our team effort,” Trott said.“Sullivan's our only player who has played professionally, whereas the other teams have two or three and that makes it difficult for us.“Because we lacked experience he actually had to play more experience than he would have liked. He was superb, and I have to give him more than enough respect.”In a thrilling final, US Virgin Islands edged out Bahamas by two points, 91-89 to be officially crowned as Caribbean Champions. Jamaica claimed the bronze medal after scraping past British Virgin Island 55-54.Last month saw Bermuda's men team defend their title at the Island Games in the Isle of Wight to take the gold medal.