Goiania (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019) — Brazil continue to be undefeated at Group B of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers after defeating Colombia as locals in the first game of the second window, 84-49 with the Varejão-Barbosa duo as spearheads.

Colombia won the first quarter, portraying an offensive prowess led by Ortiz, but could not repeat the feat in the following quarters, when they suffered the Brazilian offensive and ended the game with a wide difference of 35 points for their loss.

“We had a lot of problems at the beginning of the game, we only practiced for two days and we had little time to attend some physical problems. That is why we had a slow first half. We had many shots from two and three. The players were anxious. I am happy for the second half and we left a good taste before the next game against Chile. I am happy with their attitude in the second half."  -Aleksandar Petrovic.

Leandro Barbosa was the greatest scorer with an 18-point contribution (4/8 in doubles, 3/3 in triples and 1/1 in free throws), followed by Anderson Varejão, who ended with a 14-point double-double (6/10 in doubles and 2/3 in free throws) and 13 rebounds. This was the third consecutive victory to continue heading the positions without experiencing a single defeat. For Colombia (0-3), Michael Jackson's 16 points were not enough —which were mostly caused by the other team's fouls (11/12 in free throws) — and Stalin Ortiz scored 14 points (4/7 in triples). None of the teams had other players who reached the double digits.

"We played well, but we could have done it better. We have to play better defense against out next rival."Leandrinho BarbosaLeandrinho Barbosa

Brazil awaits Chile's (1-1) visit on Sunday, and Colombia will try to find their first win, as locals, against Venezuela (1-1) at Estadio Iván De Bedout.

The team coached by Croatia native Aleksandar Petrović threw for a 38.46% in the three-point area (10 of 26) and 47.62% in field goals, while capturing 50 rebounds (35 in the defense) and passing 26 assists. The Colombians only caught 25 rebounds and could only achieve seven assists in the whole encounter and could only make 7 of the 34 two-pointers thrown (20.59%) and 6 of 16 three-pointers (37.5%).

Colombia started better, winning the first quarter with a great contribution by Ortiz, with 14 points, and despite Brazil’s advance —who came close, by 3 points— they won the quarter 24-21.

A second quarter with few scores and a great defense by the local team, with a good job by Barbosa and Lucas Cipolini in the rebounds, showed a very different Colombian team from the first quarter who could only score 2 points in first seven minutes of the quarter. Then they closed in once again, 31-30, with only 30 seconds left for the end of the second quarter, which closed 33-30 (12-6).

The start of the third period repeated what happened in the second. The team coached by Guillermo Moreno was unable to score in the first minutes and Brazil drove further in the marker and achieved a 17-point difference (50-33), the greatest until the moment. 58-45 (25-15) for Aleksandar Petrović's side, with Barbosa making 18 points alongside Varejão.

FIBA