Colombia upsets undefeated Brazil to keep World Cup dreams alive

 BARRANQUILLA (Colombia) – In a true tale of the underdog, the action was flowing on the court until the very last second of double overtime at Coliseo Deportivo Elias Chegwin. Colombia managed to take down undefeated Brazil in a massive 104-98 upset.

 

It all looked like it went the right way for the home team from the start, as they jumped out of the gate looking for a win, outscoring Brazil 27-19, playing stifling defense on the top team in Group B while hitting seemingly every shot they took in a fast paced quarter. They continued their drive into the second quarter, leading by 11 points at the half and having the momentum and home crowd all on their side.

But in the second half, Brazil shifted into another gear, remembering the game they usually play that consists of stifling defense of their own, and finally found their rhythm in the fourth quarter outscoring Colombia by 10 which would take the game to the final seconds.

With the game tied at 76-76 with just five seconds left to play, Colombia was barely holding onto their hopes, not only of reaching the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, but of the glory of taking down a top team in the world, at home, in front of devoted fans.

With Colombia unable to hit a shot at the buzzer, the game would end up going into overtime, as Brazil had wished they made more shots from the foul line while Colombia needed more from their bench.

Each team had to dig deep in order to find the energy to score, taking two and a half minutes into the first overtime period before Brazil finally broke the scoring deadlock, which they would hope could help them to keep their undefeated record, leading throughout the period.

 

Yet with one second to play, Colombia had secured a rebound from their own foul shot to tie the game at 87-87, keeping their own hopes alive, and sending the game to a second overtime, this time knowing the gameplan had to be no longer playing catch-up with Brazil and instead taking charge.

Braian Angola hitting a three-pointer to open the scoring of the second overtime would do exactly that, and suddenly a second wind saw Colombia taking a five-point lead while Brazil had no gas left in the tank. Colombia led by as much as 7 points in the overtime period, but foul trouble that sent Juan Tello out of the game allowed Brazil to come back within 2 points with just over a minute to play.

 

The pressure of the lead in double overtime caused Colombia to make mistakes, even after huge three-pointers from players like Hansel Antencia and Angola, but allowing Brazil’s Bruno Caboclo to rebound and Marcelinho Huertas to score kept Brazil fighting until the dying seconds.

With 12 seconds to play Colombia finally made the right defensive decisions, fighting for rebounds and forcing Brazil to take off-balanced shots on tired legs, and in turn secured their spot in the second round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers, knocking Chile out of Group B.

Tello’s 26 points and 10 rebounds led Colombia, even when he fouled out, and Angola’s 20 points and 10 rebounds as well as Andre Ibarguen Andrews adding 17 points and 12 rebounds kept Colombia alive. The three carried much of Colombia’s load as Tello, Angola and Atencia who added 13 points - including crucial shots in overtime - all played over 40 minutes in the match.

Huertas led Brazil, as well as all scorers, with 27 points in the loss, while Caboclo had a standout game for his country with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Lucas Dias also played a crucial role for Brazil playing 37 minutes to add a double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds.

 

FIBA