RIO DE JANEIRO (Brazil) – In front of their home crowd, Flamengo took the first step in the 2024-25 Basketball Champions League Americas Final 4, dominating SESI Franca, 91-67, in the second Semi-Final at Estadio Maracanazinho.
The red and black will play in the Final on Saturday against Boca Juniors (who outlasted Instituto earlier on Friday), looking to win their second title in the history of the competition. Flamengo will also look to snap a streak of 2 consecutive losses in finals.
Turning point
After a back-and-forth affair in the first stanza (22-18), Flamengo displayed their full arsenal in the second and third quarters, playing near-flawless basketball on both ends of the floor. The hosts won the second period 20-11 and then the third 23-11 to go up 65-40 and essentially put the game away before playing out the string.
Player of the game
Point guard Alexey Borges, who came into the game as the tournament leader in efficiency, once again showed his talent and led Flamengo with 24 points and 9 assists. Big man Ruan Miranda added 13 points and 7 rebounds, while Shaquille Johnson (12) and Franco Balbi (10) also had solid showings.
Charles Hinkle (14) and Lucas Dias (10) were the only Franca players in double digits.
Stats don’t lie
Flamengo’s defense set the tone for the whole game, holding Franca to 39.7 percent from the field and causing 18 turnovers. The host team took advantage of those miscues by winning points off turnovers 17-10, fast break points 18-12, and points in the paint 46-24.
Bottom line
Flamengo and Boca shared Group B in this edition of the tournament. The Brazilians won the first pair (70-69 and 96-61), with the Argentinians winning the most recent one (96-71). That loss led Flamengo to fire head coach Gustavo Conti and eventually hire Sergio Hernández, who made his debut in the Quarterfinals.
They said
"This will be our 5th BCL Americas Final and that makes us proud. This time we ran them off the court. We played them recently (this past Tuesday in domestic league action) and we didn’t show our plan. We saved things for today and it worked out well. This victory gives us great energy heading into the Final, we did a great job. Now we have to think about Boca. It will be an interesting and tough game,” said Flamengo point guard Franco Balbi.
FIBA