Canada claims first spot in Semi-Final after nailbiter win over Mexico

RECIFE (Brazil) – The first game of the FIBA AmeriCup Quarter-Finals delivered all the drama, excitement and clinical basketball one could provide as Canada edged out Mexico in a 82-77 in the direct knockout stage of the competition.

 

Mexico was the team who came out hot in the first quarter, as Daniel Amigo tallied 8 points while Paul Stoll added 6 points – including two from deep – to account for 14 of Mexico’s 19 points in the first frame.

Canada trailed by just one basket, scoring 17 points of their own, but as Canada has shown many times before in the tournament their approach to scoring is much more well-rounded as Dalano Banton, Maurice Calloo, Kadre Gray and Javon Henry-Blair all scored 3 or more points in the quarter.

Mexico’s ball movement from Yahir Bonilla and Gabriel Giron made it hard for Canada to stop Mexico’s shooting from the floor and in turn caused Canada to foul early as they couldn’t stop their spacing on the floor.

But Canada made sure they would come back in the second quarter, and while the affair was a low scoring 13-11 quarter, they evened the score to 30-all going into the second half to ensure they set themselves up to take the lead back.

Another close quarter, this time Canada getting the edge to lead by two points, was led by the collaborative efforts of Banton and Henry-Blair, who had each tallied 10 points by the end of the quarter on top of their rebounding and assisting efforts, but also Trae Bell-Haynes, who was not a scoring threat but helped Canada lead the defensive boards.

 

Fabian James played a role in Mexico’s fight to stay in the game with Canada, scoring 8 points and grabbing 6 rebounds by the end of the quarter, while Bonilla had risen to 10 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

Mexico continued to put up a challenge in the paint, using their size to force Canada to shoot from deep, which they struggled with from beyond the arc. But as the momentum swung in Canada’s favour, they hit more shots from mid-range and shot 69.7 percent from field goal range as a team.

Canada’s key to clinching the game was utilizing their entire team, with 9 different players getting a basket in the game, and five different players grabbing 3 or more rebounds to take a 54-52 lead going into the final 10 minutes of play.

One final quarter of back-and-forth action saw that Canada’s roster depth was the key to their success as Mexico saw three different players on the court for 37 or more minutes in the match, utilizing their starters until they ran out of gas when Canada had more than enough support to give their starters a break.

Amigo shot 7-of-13 from the floor, good for 20 points and Gabriel Giron added 19 including three triples, but with Canada had eight different players score 5 points or more, with Banton leading his country once again with 16 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists, Mexico did not have the stamina to keep up with Canada who went on a 7-0 run to increase their gap halfway through the quarter and never took their foot off the gas.

As Mexico became tired, they became sloppy in their play committing 13 turnovers that Canada turned into 17 points, and with Mexico’s bench contributing just 5 points to Canada’s 26, even Amigo and Stoll’s killer defense couldn’t stop Canada.

Bell-Haynes, a second-half support man for Canada all tournament, finished the game with 8 fourth quarter points to raise his total to 10 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in the win, while James finished with a double-double in his full 40 minutes for Mexico tallying 11 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists.

 

FIBA