Mexico and Puerto Rico to play for Centrobasket U17 Gold

SAN JUAN (Puerto Rico) – With their Semi-Finals wins on Saturday, Mexico and Puerto Rico earned the right to play for the Gold Medal of the Centrobasket U17 Championship 2019.

 
With their qualification to the regional final, Mexico and Puerto Rico won tickets to the FIBA U18 Americas Championship 2020.

In what was another edition of the great rivalry of the Caribbean, the Puerto Ricans came out successful after a tremendous second quarter in which they mounted a 24-12 run, which led to a 36-28 advantage at half-time. The host clung to that advantage and headed to a 74-70 win.

Rafael Pinzón, who finished with 28 points, was key for Puerto Rico. José Nazario was also crucial with 11 points.

For the Dominicans, Montero scored 35 points and Alexis Matos 11 points.

For its part, Mexico recovered from a complicated first half and in the second half deployed a great defense to defeat the Bahamas, 64-48.

The Caribbean team dominated the initial 20 minutes 29-26; nevertheless, in the second half, the Mexicans rotated better defensively and took the transition points from the opponent.

Iván Bernal, with 21 points and Yahir Bonilla with 14 points, led the Mexican attack. Romad Dean was the best for the Bahamas with 16 goals.

The Bahamas and the Dominican Republic will play for the Bronze medal and the last available ticket to the FIBA U18 Americas Championship 2020.

In the Reclassification Round, Virgin Islands defeated Jamaica, 104-86, with 21 points from Jahsean Corbett and Amayoa’ah Phillips. For the Jamaicans, Joshua Minott finished with 40 points.

Panama did the same against El Salvador with a 99-41 scoreboard. Guillermo Navarro scored 29 points for the winners. Anthony Reyes and Juan Pablo Ibarra left 10 points each, for the Salvadoran team.

This Sunday, Virgin Islands and Panama will play for fifth place and Jamaica and El Salvador, for seventh place.

FIBA