Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay win – FIBA Americas C’Ship 2011 Day 5 Review (Part -1)
On the last day of the first round of the FIBA Americas 2011, Canada, Argentina, Dominican Republic and Uruguay recorded wins to secure their spots in the second round of the championship. The stage which will again be on a round robin format will also feature Brazil Panama, Venezuela and Puerto Rico will start on Monday.
Here is a brief recap of the games played on 3rd September:
Venezuela 103 – Canada 98
The first game of the day 5 of the FIBA Americas 2011 Championship turned out to be the most exciting one. Memphis Grizzlies point guard Greivis Vasquez erupted with 29 points while power forward Hector Romero racked up 28 points as Venezuela hung tough in the clutch to edge out Canada 103-98 in an overtime thriller.
The game started on an even note and the equation didn’t get any different throughout. Venezuela held a 23-21 advantage in the first half, fought hard to maintain it till the halftime, but by the time the third frame ended they were trailing the Canadians by a single point.
The see saw battle continued in the fourth quarter. Venezuela started to take control midway through the frame and charted out a 4 point lead couple of time. However, whenever the South Americans looked set to break away, the Canadian countered right back. They fought hard and with 41 seconds to go, the Canadian could have won it. However, Joel Anthony split a pair of free throws and the game headed for overtime at 84 each.
Canada drew the first blood in the overtime to take an 86-84 lead, but Venezuela responded with a 10-2 to finally pull away. The Canadians never came with four after that and put themselves in a difficult situation in the Championship, facing an elimination from the London Olympics 3-5 placed teams (these teams will play the Olympic qualifiers), if they tie with Venezuela on points.
It was by far the most points Canada has conceded so far in the tournament and their coach Leo Rautins was not impressed at all.
“We have been good at establishing a defensive game plan but for the first time we went away from that. It wasn’t due to overconfidence though. One thing we’ve done in the past is underestimate teams,” Brown said.
“I didn’t think we did that (Saturday).”
The North Americans were led James Anderson who scored 28 points. Denham Brown scored 19 while Carl English finished with 18.
Continued in part-2
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