Halcones becomes first Mexican club to reach BCLA Final 4

XALAPA (Mexico) – Halcones de Xalapa made history Sunday night, defeating Nacional 88-75 to become the first Mexican club to reach the Basketball Champions League Americas Final 4.

After being on the brink of elimination the previous night, Paco Olmos’ squad took care of business on Game 3 to advance to the semifinals.

Turning point: After such an emotionally charged Game 2, the biggest questions were whether Nacional could bounce back from a heartbreaking loss and if Halcones had anything left in the tank for Game 3.

And while Nacional jumped to an early 13-6 lead, it was the home team that quickly took control of the action. The Mexican club went on a 10-2 run to retake the lead before the end of the first quarter and never looked back.

They would eventually stretch the lead to 16 points in the final minutes as the home fans awaited the final buzzer to unleash their celebration.

Player of the Game: After scoring just 9 points (albeit with a clutch three-pointer) on Saturday, Jordan Glynn popped off for 23 points to lead Halcones.

He was near perfect, shooting 9/10 from the field, including 5/5 from long distance. The 34-year-old added 9 rebounds and finished with a 30 efficiency rating.

David Cubillán (16 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists), Davon Jefferson (14 points and 4 assists), Rasid Mahabalsic (11 points and 6 boards) and Daniel Bejerano (10 points) also scored in double digits for the home team.

Jordan Matthews (24 points on 7/16 from the field) led the way for Nacional, while Gastón Semiglia (16 points) and Franco Giorgetti (15 points, 8 boards and 3 dimes) also had good showings despite the loss.

Stats don’t lie: Halcones was the better team across the board on Game 3, shooting 48.4 percent from the field while holding Nacional to just 41.2 percent.

They also had small, but important edges in three-pointers (12 vs. 10), rebounds (37-32), points off turnovers (22-17) and second chance points (13-8). Their bench also had a 36-20 advantage over Nacional’s.

Bottom line: In their first appearance in the tournament, Halcones did what Fuerza Regia and Libertadores de Querétaro couldn’t do in previous occasions: advance past the Quarterfinals of the most prestigious continental club competition.

They’ll now face Flamengo for a spot in the final.

Conversely, Nacional, who led by 8 points in overtime in Game 2 but couldn’t put the game away, missed on the chance to reaching the BCLA Final 4 for the first time in team history.

FIBA