Mexico, Dominican Republic and Bahamas advance to Semi-Finals, Puerto Rico still undefeated
SAN JUAN (Puerto Rico) - Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Bahamas took the last available spots in the Semi-Finals of the Centrobasket U17 Championship 2019 and joined host Puerto Rico.
SAN JUAN (Puerto Rico) - Mexico, Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas took the last available spots in the Semi-Finals of the Centrobasket U17 Championship 2019 and joined host Puerto Rico in the next step of the regional championship.
That's it for the Group Phase of the Centrobasket U17! 🙌
— FIBA (@FIBA) July 27, 2019
📢 Semi-Finals 🔽@AdemebaNacional 🇲🇽🆚🇧🇸 @BBFbasketball @fbpur 🇵🇷🆚🇩🇴 @FedombalRD
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Mexico (3-0) defeated Panama (1-2) and finished leader in Group B, while the Dominican Republic (2-1) took second place in the group.
On the other hand, Bahamas (2-1) surpassed the Virgin Islands (1-2) in the duel for second place of Group A and accompanied Puerto Rico (3-0), which remained at the top by beating El Salvador (0-3).
In the first match of the day, the Dominican squad went out with everything and dominated Jamaica, 115-49.
The defense did not give any kind of concessions by stealing 31 balls and forcing its rival to commit 37 turnovers. In addition,
Jean Montero with 23 points and 10 steals and Juan De Los Santos with 22 and 11 rebounds commanded the Dominican offense that had six players with 10 points or more. Joshua Minott, with 19 points and seven rebounds, led the Jamaican attack.
Mexico ratified its good moment and beat Panama with a score of 93-68.
The Aztecs set the pace early (at the end of the first half they already dominated 44-21), they displayed their collective game (all players scored) and scored 13 three-pointers in 29 attempts, to leave the Panamanians without options.
Juan Berrones, with 15 points; Gonzalo Mendoza with 14 points and 13 rebounds and Esteban Roacho with 13 points, led the Mexican attack. For Panama, Johriel Zapata culminated with 15 points.
Later, Bahamas played a great last quarter on both sides of the court and defeated the Virgin Islands, 89-76, to win the last ticket to the Semi-Finals.
In the first three periods, the match was marked by parity, but in the defining stretch, Bahamas closed its defense and made better decisions on offense, mainly from the hands of Deyton Albury, who guided the attack with 31 points.
The game was sentenced when Albury stole a ball and hit a lay-up to give his team an 85-67 advantage, with 2:13 to go.
Finally, Puerto Rico had no setbacks and dispatched El Salvador 96-51, to end the Group Phase undefeated.
The Puerto Ricans relied on 21 points from Ramses Meléndez and 11 points from Omar Figueroa, while for the Salvadoran, Anthony Reyes left with 16 points.
This Saturday, in the Semi-Finals, Mexico will face the Bahamas and Puerto Rico will face the Dominican Republic. In the Reclassification Round, the Virgin Islands will collide with Jamaica and Panama will face El Salvador.
The first three teams of the Centrobasket U17 Championship will qualify to the FIBA U18 Americas Championship 2020.
FIBA