Canada and Brazil win - FIBA Americas Championship Round 2, Sep 7 review (Part-1)
Canada 70 – Uruguay 68
Trailing by 21 points in the second half of the game, Uruguay recuperated well against Canada, taking the battle into a thrilling mode. However, after all the hard work, Uruguay’s top scorer Leandro Garcia Morales missed a game-winning
shot in the last few seconds of the fourth quarter, allowing Canada to wrap up a nail biting 70-68 victory.
Garcia notched up a game-high 19 points and was a touch short from triggering a stunner. Martin Osimani also impressed with his all-round performance, racking up 17 points, 5 boards and 3 assists.
From the winning team, Levon Maxwell Kendall stepped up with 19 points and 11 rebounds, helping Canada to improve their record 1-2 in the second round of the FIBA American Championship. In the process of keeping the side intact
against the formidable late charge of Uruguay, Canadian sharp-shooter Andrew Jay Rautins played a vital role with his incredible parameter shooting. Rautins buried four 3-pointers and scored 12 points of his 15 from downtown.
Fuelled with the determination to keep their semi-final hopes alive, Canadians headed out aggressively in the first quarter and romped with 8-2 run to clinch an early advantage. Uruguay quickly tied the game however Canada started
to move the ball better and ended the period with 19-17 lead. Canada carried the domination in the second quarter, smashing the opposition with 22 points and constructed a huge 41-27 lead.
Canada kept the score board ticking in the beginning of the second quarter and amplified the lead to 21 points when Uruguay stepped up with great retaliation and brought down the deficit to 70-68 with 7 seconds remaining in the
final buzzer. Uruguay failed to take advantage from the last possession of the game they gained and missed on a game-winner, turning the game in Canada’s favour.
Brazil 73 – Argentina 71
The prevailing Argentina faced their first defeat of the tournament on Wednesday that came from the hands of Brazil. On the day when the Brazilian big man Tiago Splitter struggle to show a good performance, Rafael Hettsheimer carried
the action dominantly, leading Brazil towards an exhilarating 73-71 victory.
Rafael landed a team-high 19 points and clutched 8 rebounds in 22 minutes of playing time, registering his one of the best performance in the tournament.
On the other hand, Houston Rockets double-double threat Luis Scola erupted with another outstanding performance for his native team Argentina. Scola racked up a game-high 24 points and gathered 11 boards however his efforts resulted
insufficient in the end.
Both the teams showed great retaliation in the first two quarters when the spirited Argentina led the game 28-27 going into the halftime. The Third quarter turned out to be the decisive period of the game in which Brazil overpowered
the opposition 26-19 and entered the final 10 minutes with 6 points lead.
The mighty strength on the Argentinean roster strived to fight back in the fourth period and made the life difficult for the opposition however Brazil managed to salt away 2-point lead till the final buzzer and wrapped up an electrifying
victory.
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