ARG/BRA/PAR/PUR - Argentina crush Brazil to reach Super 4 final

SALTA (2010 FIBA World Championship) – Hosts Argentina dominated Brazil 95-58 on the first day of the Super 4 tournament al Delmi Stadium in Salta and will face Puerto Rico in Wednesday’s final.

In a rematch of the South American Championship final – which Brazil won 87-77 – Argentina came in with the team that is practicing for the FIBA World Championship while Brazil has their best team training in Rio and instead sent the South American Championship team for this event.

Luis Scola had a game-high 30 points, Carlos Delfino added 20 and Fabricio Oberto finished with 15 to go along with nine rebounds as the Argentineans registered an impressive win in their first friendly game prior to the FIBA World Championship.

Scola had eight first quarter points as the home side took a 27-18 lead. In the second period, Sergio Hernandez’s side improved its defense and kept their production inside to extend their advantage to 46-30 at the break by which stage Scola already had 18 points and Delfino 11.

In the second half, the Argentineans started to make their long range shots while the Brazilians continued to struggle as they had 21 turnovers and shot just 33 percent from the field. Arthur Belchior was the only Brazilian scorer in double figures with 10 points.

Meanwhile, Puerto Rico were pushed hard to beat Paraguay 87-85.

The Paraguayans came into the game with more efficient inside presence, scoring 48 points in the paint (compared to 34 for their opponents), but were made to pay the price for their poor free-throw shooting, as they hit on only 16 of 30 attempts.

Playing from behind early on, Puerto Rico took the lead 18-13 with three-pointers by Ricky Sanchez and José Juan Barea and held a 19-17 edge at the end of the first quarter.

Paraguay’s Guillermo Araujo made his presence felt inside in the second period, accounting for 11 points to help his team take a 41-34 lead at the break.

Puerto Rico woke up in the third quarter with Carmelo Lee and Peter John Ramos leading the way. Trailing 50-38, they went on a 19-6 rally to edge in front 57-56 before Daniel Perez put Paraguay up 63-59 to end the period.

They led 71-67 with eight minutes to go before baskets by Ramos, Nathan Peavy and three-pointers from Barea and Lee saw Puerto Rico go up 77-73.

Paraguay did not relent and were up 85-84 on Jose Fabio’s basket late on before Ramos and Barea sealed the game from the free-throw line.

Lee made eight of 10 three-point attempts on his way to a game-high 28 points while Ramos finished with 18 to go along with 12 rebounsd.

Perez led Paraguay with 22.

FIBA Americas