Minas run away from Quimsa, claim third straight third place finish

FRANCA (Brazil) - Minas ended their 2022-23 Basketball Champions League Americas season on a high note after winning the third-place game against Quimsa 94-81.

This is the third consecutive third place finish for Minas in the BCLA, while Quimsa have now finished in fourth place for the second season in a row. This was also Minas' first win in four meetings against Quimsa this season.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair with the teams trading several leads until Minas doubled up Quimsa 18-9 to close the second quarter and grab a 10-point lead.

Quimsa battled back and took a brief lead before Minas jumped back in front by only 3 points after three quarters.

Alexey Borges (11 fourth quarter points) and Eden Ewing (8 fourth quarter points) combined to score 19 of Minas' 29 fourth quarter points and led the charge to put Quimsa away late with an 18-3 run. The scoring run gave them their largest lead of the game (15 points).

Borges finished with a game-high 20 points along with 4 assists and 2 rebounds while shooting 8-of-13 from the field and 3-of-6 from three-point. This is the third time that he's scored at least 20 points in his last four games.

Minas also got key contributions from Shaquille Johnson (17 points), as well as Ewing, Lucas Faggiano and Wesley Ferreira who all scored 14 points apiece.

Quimsa were led by Eric Anderson who recorded 17 points, a team-high 8 rebounds and 4 assists on 6-of-10 shooting from the field.

Basketball can be as simple as putting the ball in the basket more frequently and more efficiently than your opponent, and Minas did just that, making 12 more shots from the field than Quimsa and shooting 54.4 percent overall compared to 45.5 percent.

FIBA