MANAGUA (Nicaragua) – After losing in their debut, Toros del Valle (1-1) evened out their record in Group A while dominating Paisas (0-1) 102-68, in a duel between Colombian teams at Polideportivo Alexis Argüello in Managua, Nicaragua.
Turning point
The squad from Cali was efficient on offense and set the tone early by winning the first quarter 28-18. In the next 2 periods, Raúl Pabón’s guys kept pushing and extending their lead, going up 79-51 at the end of the third – making the last 10 minutes essentially a formality.
Player of the game
Colombian National Team forward Michael Wright led the way with 24 points, 9 rebounds and a pair of blocks for a game-high 28 efficiency.
Benito Santiago Jr. added 17 points (16 in the first half) in just 18 minutes of action. Josimar Ayarza (7 rebounds) contributed 14 points, Soren De Luque had 11 points and 9 boards, and Luis Almanza and Christian Pizarro generated 10 points apiece. For Paisas, Eric Crawford (13) and Glenn Cosey (11) were their only scorers in double digits. Dominican big man Eloy Vargas had 8 points and 10 rebounds.
Stats don’t lie
Toros shot above 55 percent from the field (38-for-69), including 10-for-25 from long distance. They also held their opponents to 28 percent (28-for-83) and a frigid 4-for-32 from downtown. The winning side also controlled points in the paint, 52-36.
Bottom line
The win put Toros in a favorable position heading into the next window and their wide margin of victory has them looking confident of grabbing one of the group’s 2 tickets to the Quarterfinals. Paisas will need to improve a lot over the next 24 hours if they want to make it competitive against group favorites Real Estelí.
FIBA