Puerto Rico holds off Colombia at home

SAN JUAN (Puerto Rico) - Puerto Rico took home a win in front of their home crowd as they held off Colombia 91-79 at Coliseo Roberto Clemente on Friday night.

 

Both teams kept it close in the first quarter sharing baskets as Tremont Waters, a player to watch for coming into this window, was already on fire for Puerto Rico.

With 13 points on 62.5 percent shooting, Waters had already scored three triples on top of going 2-of-3 from the floor to give Puerto Rico a one-point edge at the end of the quarter, 19-18.

Andres Ibarguen tipped in 8 points for Colombia as Juan Tello was held to just 5 points on 2-of-7 shooting in the quarter, but Tello made his impact on the board finishing the quarter with 6 rebounds and controlled the offensive second chances.

Puerto Rico pulled away to start the second quarter as three players got up to 7 or more points tipped in, and while Puerto Rico led by as many as 10 points, Colombia continued their fight and stayed in the match.

Down 34-24, Colombia went on a scoring run led by 10 points from Tonny Trocha to make it level before Puerto Rico found their momentum to pull away and lead by 4 at the half, 39-35.

While Puerto Rico may have found their momentum late in the first half, Colombia found their rhythm and ability to share the scoring load as Braian Angola and Juan Tello also joined in as double digit scorers for Colombia.

As they were able to keep Waters as close to scoreless as possible, Gian Clavell picked up the slack shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from field goal range through three quarters tallying 16 points for Puerto Rico.

With the game too close for comfort, Stephen Thompson Jr. took it upon himself to put Puerto Rico back in the lead, with his early 3 points bringing his tally to 11 points as a 10-2 run put Puerto Rico comfortably ahead by 7.

 

Both teams continued to pressure on defense and force turnovers, but it was Puerto Rico’s bench play that made the difference as they had more stamina to stay in the game late while Colombia ran out of gas.

Leading by as many as 11 points late, Puerto Rico allowed Colombia to creep back thanks to sloppy defense and fouls.

Colombia made a late run thanks to Angola being all over the court in assisting and scoring, but Thompson Jr. put Puerto Rico on his back in retaliation to seal the win.

Five Puerto Rico scorers finished with 9 or more points as Waters finished with 21 points, 6 assists and 9 steals, while Clavell added 19 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

It was Thompson Jr.‘s late heroics of 14 fourth quarter points that secured a win as he tallied 22 points and 6 rebounds for Puerto Rico.

Angola finished with 22 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists for Colombia and Ibarguen finished with a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds in the loss.

 

FIBA