Minas edges Obras, Sao Paulo stays dominant in Group B

 MONTEVIDEO (Uruguay) - The second day of action for Group B and Group C took place at Antel Arena as Minas and Quimsa made their first appearance in the second stage of BCL Americas. Minas faced off against Obras and Quimsa faced a Sao Paulo team that had just won big against Nacional.

Obras Sanitarias 74 - 77 Minas

 

Minas and Obras kicked off the first game, with Shaquille Johnson draining a three-point basket in the dying second of the game to give Minas a 77-74 win in Group C.

The game started out with Obras taking the lead, as Joaquin Rodriquez scored 11 points in 10 minutes in the first quarter, shooting 100 percent from the field and was a problem for Minas’ defense to contain.

Juan Pablo Venegas Schaefer added 10 points for Obras in the second quarter, but Minas' Johnson and Guilherme Deodato combined for 19 points between the two of them at the half and took a one-point lead.

Obras found a second wind by the third quarter, with Pedro Barral and Lautaro Fernandez both getting into double digit scoring with 13 and 12 points respectively.

 

In the end, Minas' bench helped them find the points to get back in the game, forcing turnovers and scoring on the fast break as five players scored 8 or more points in the win with Johnson finishing with 25. Four players for Obras had 14 or more points, but the rest of the bench combined for just 16 points in the loss.

Sao Paulo 86 - 69 Quimsa

 

In the Group B game, undefeated Sao Paulo took on Quimsa (1-1) in Group B, and after a wild back and forth the Brazilian team took home the 86-69 win.

Quimsa jumped out to a hot start leading Sao Paulo 23-18 at the end of the first quarter thanks to 11 points from Terrence Roderick Jr and keeping Sao Paulo’s shooters at bay and grabbing rebounds to score in transition.

Sao Paulo fought back in the second quarter to cut the deficit to just one point at half time. Young star Bruno Caboclo stepped up to the plate and tipped in 13 points and Marquinhos Sousa added 12 points by the half to keep Sao Paulo in the game.

 

In the third quarter, Sao Paulo took the lead as Corderro Bennet also started to find the basket. Caboclo controlled the boards and tallied a double-double by the end of the third to keep his team ahead.

Franco Baralle added 10 points by the third for Quimsa, but the bench could not keep the pace with Sao Paulo to maintain the lead.

As Quimsa ran out of gas and lost battles on the boards, six scorers had 10 or more points for undefeated Sao Paulo with Caboclo finishing with 20 points and 15 rebounds. Roderick Jr led Quimsa with 21 points while Eric Anderson Jr added 13 in the loss.

 

FIBA