Canada, Dominican Republic and USA remain undefeated after Day 2

BELÉM (Brazil) - On the second day of action of the FIBA U16 Americas Championship 2019, which takes place at the Guilherme Paraense Arena in Belém, Brazil, the teams from Canada, the Dominican Republic and the United States maintained their r undefeated record, while Puerto Rico tasted triumph for the first time.

 
Canada (2-0) returned to a solid performance and finished as leader of Group B, beating Brazil 90-67.

 
The North troop imposed its superiority in stature dominating the rebounds 57 (26 offensive) to 41 and were efficient taking advantage of the errors of their rival. The 16 turnovers of Brazil were transformed into 27 points of the opponent, compared to only six of the hosts.

Caleb Houstan was the top scorer with 28 points, including four of the team's eight three-pointers. The forward also captured 10 rebounds. Shaedon Sharpe escorted him with 13 points.

For the Amazonians, who left their balance in 1-1, guard Matheus Leoni for the second day was the best in scoring with 14. Felipe Motta closed with 13 and Rodolfo Bolis left with a double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Point guard Jean Montero gave a sample of its offensive quality and with 42 points led the Dominican Republic to an important victory over Argentina, 90-77, in Group A.

The Dominicans, who like in the first day exhibited intensity in defense and a lot of speed, achieved their second victory, while the Argentineans fell to 0-2.

After an even first quarter in which the South Americans finished 23-22, the Dominican Republic began to make a difference in the hand of Montero, who scored 14 of his 28 field goals, including three three-pointers. In addition, he scored 11 free throws in 13 attempts. The point guard rounded off his brilliant performance with 11 rebounds and five turnovers.

For Argentina, excelled center Agusto Roveres with 29 points and 11 rebounds and forward Esteban Caffaro with 19 and seven boards.

Puerto Rico resisted the reaction of Uruguay in the second half of the game and managed to prevail by 69-58 to get its first triumph in Group B.

The Puerto Ricans after dominating the first half by 37-25 suffered the offensive explosion of forward Agustín Ubal, who took Uruguay and led them to take the lead 51-46 in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. However, the Uruguayans fell back into inaccuracies with the ball.

With six minutes left and the game tied at 53, Uruguay coach Marcelo Capalbo was sent off with his second technical foul and that generated a mental drop to the Uruguayans. The Caribbean team took full advantage of the situation.

A three pointer by Eric Navarro with 2:03 minutes put Puerto Rico ahead 64-55, which at that point was crucial for the win.

Johned Walker with 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists, led the team from Borinquen. Jeremy Figueroa followed with 14 points. For Uruguay, Ubal's 30 points and 13 rebounds were not enough to prevent their second loss.

The United States achieved its second victory in Group A by beating Mexico to a score of 104-52 in the first match of the day.

 
The red, white and blue team looked more tuned than on the first day of competition and were completely superior in all facets of the game: they defended, took care of the ball, attacked the key and scored from long distance, not to give any kind of opportunities to the opponent.

Amari Bailey with 21 points guided the offensive, while center Jalen Duren excelled with 18 points, 17 rebounds and five assists. The guard Richard Isaacs added 15, with four three-pointers.

The Aztecs had Bryan Ceballos, Ivan De La Garza and Miguel Figueroa with 10 points each.

On the last day of the Group Phase, USA will face the Dominican Republic, Mexico will face Argentina, Puerto Rico will meet Canada and the host will face Uruguay.

FIBA