RECIFE (Brazil) - With seven players scoring eight or more points in their match, Argentina dominated Virgin Islands in a 95-62 win to take their first win of the FIBA AmeriCup in Group B.

Out of the gate Argentina was first to strike, but Virgin Islands kept up with their intensity and even managed to wrestle the lead away briefly before Argentina led by five points going into the second quarter.

Virgin Island’s Ivan Aska had already tallied 9 points in the first 10 minutes of play, but as Argentina’s Nicolas Laprovittola matched with 9 of his own to go along with Facundo Campazzo’s 5 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists, Argentina’s creativity in their plays allowed them to get off a whopping 70 percent of their shots.

The second quarter saw Argentina dial in defensively as they kept Virgin Islands to just 8 points and 40 percent shooting, while controlling the boards and scoring off turnovers on the fast break.

Virgin Islands was quick in their defense, tallying 7 steals as a team by the half as Aska rose to 13 points and 2 steals of his own, but Laprovittola’s 16 points by halftime along with Gabriel Deck’s 10 points and Carlos Delfino’s 9 points widened the gap to 20 points, which Virgin Islands could not recover from.

While the third quarter was a closer affair, with Argentina putting up just 21 point to Virgin Islands’ 13, Argentina’s bench depth compared to a tired Virgin Islands team that could not close out the game was the difference as Argentina’s bench finished the game with 37 points to Virgin Islands’ 13.

Laprovittola led all scorers with 18 points while Campazzo’s impressed with a near double-double of 13 points and 9 assists for Argentina.

Aska led all Virgin Islands scorers with 13 points and 6 rebounds while Rakeem Christmas added 12 points and Romani Hansen added 11 points and 6 rebounds.

FIBA