SAN JUAN (Puerto Rico) - Mexico advanced to the Semi-Finals of the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico after prevailing in a 92-81 battle against Côte d'Ivoire.
Omar Quintero's guys came back from a nine-point deficit in the second half, showing better poise down the stretch to get past a feisty, yet less experienced African squad.
Turning point
A three-pointer from Fabian Jaimes early in the fourth quarter gave Mexico their first lead since midway through the second quarter.
That jump-started a magnificent close for the North Americans, who won the final period by a score of 24-12 behind an all-around effort from veterans and youngsters alike.
TCL Player of the Game
Paul Stoll guided Mexico with a 23-point, 11-assist double-double. The 38-year-old played 38 minutes and shot 8-for-14 from the field, including 5-for-10 from long distance.
Joshua Ibarra (22 points and 11 rebounds), Jaimes (15 points and 12 boards) and Karim Lopez (12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals) also had big games for the winning side.
Vafessa Fofana scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half to lead Côte d'Ivoire. Nurse Zouzoua (16 points), Assemian Moulare (12 points), Solo Diabate (12 points) and Lionel Kouadio (10 points) also scored in double digits.
Stats don't lie
Mexico dominated the battle of the boards (51-32) thanks to an 18-9 edge in offensive rebounds. That allowed them to get a 17-7 edge in second-chance points.
Overall, the winning side shot 49 percent from the field and went 11-for-30 from downtown. Mexico also held Côte d'Ivoire to 45 percent and allowed just 9 free throws.
The Elephants had twice as many steals (12 vs. 6) and turned those into a 22-6 advantage in fast break points.
Bottom line
With the win, Mexico will now face the winner of Group B in the Semi-Finals on Saturday as they find themselves two victories away from returning to the Olympic Games after a 48-year-absence.
Despite going winless, Côte d'Ivoire head back home with their heads held high after a couple of hard-fought battles that just didn't go their way. Their next challenge will come at next year's FIBA AfroBasket, where they'll try to improve on their 2021 silver medal.
They said
"We started the game very well, doing what we wanted to do. But after the first time out, they immediately came back into the game. They set the pace, they dominated on both boards and in the end they almost had the same rebounds in our basket as us. They dominated the rim and that took our confidence. At the end they scored crazy shots, and we missed some layups. We couldn’t keep the rhythm and the intensity we wanted… We go home but we go home proud." – Natxo Lescano, Côte d’Ivoire head coach.
"We tried to fight. We started good, but they dominated us on rebounds. On a couple of details, we didn’t have the same intensity as the game against Lithuania. We fought until the end. We need to go back, work and try for another chance at the Olympics." – Vafessa Fofana, Cõte d’Ivoire forward
"At this point this late in the Olympic Qualifiers, nothing's going to come easy. You saw that today. A great team, physical team that played Lithuania to the wire is going hom and with these tournaments that's how it is. You watch the other brackets in Europe and great teams are going home after one bad minute. A bad half and you're going home. So (we’re) lucky we have the chance Saturday. Obviously Puerto Rico has unbelievable talent. An incredible team at home and this atmosphere is going to be crazy with their home court advantage. Italy's Italy. They have top players in Europe and the NBA.So it's not going to be easy." - Paul Stoll, Mexico point guard
"The two teams are going to be hard, especially Puerto Rico here with all their fans. It's gonna be tough. And Italy, you know, they're really good. Like Paul said, they have great talent. Most of the guys play in the Euro League and the other guys play in the NBA." - Omar Quintero, Mexico head coach
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