SAN JUAN (FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers 2019) - If Puerto Rico wishes to be at the 2019 World Cup in China, they need to earn the qualification by their own merits, just like Argentina demanded from them last night, when the South Americans didn't cede anything to the Boricuas and almost turned the fans’ celebration into misfortune.

In one of the most exciting games of the Qualifiers, Puerto Rico defeated Argentina in the overtime by the minimum (87-86), despite having been 10 points ahead with 1:35 left to the fourth quarter.

“We paid the price. We lacked maturity toward the end, but even so we bounced back. We weren't confident. When we were up by 10 (points) we didn't close the game like we should have, and that's a good learning experience for the next game,” said Puerto Rico’s coach, Eddie Casiano, in the postgame press conference.

Thanks to their slim victory, Puerto Rico, with a 7-4 record in Group E of the Americas Qualifiers, have the option of qualifying to the World Cup if they win as locals against Uruguay (6-5) at Roberto Clemente Coliseum, in a game that's expected to be jam-packed with the host’s fans. The match between Boricuas and Charrúas will be decisive — the winner will qualify to the World Cup. With a defeat, Uruguay would be eliminated. And a loss for Puerto Rico would depend on the Dominican Republic losing against Brazil so that the Boricuas could end with a greater point difference, which seems as a very complicated possibility for the Puerto Ricans.

“We have 40 minutes to get to the World Cup in our own right,” highlighted Casiano, who praised the work done by his substitutes, who were the protagonists of 46 of the 87 points scored in the encounter — 21 of which were courtesy of shooting guard Gian Clavell.

“My style of coaching is to give an opportunity to everyone. I use my 12 pieces. My philosophy is that everyone has to play intensely and has to contribute to the game, not just score,” added Casiano, who as a player of the Puerto Rico national team competed in the 1994 and 1998 World Cups.

For his part, Clavell again was the face of the reserves in the offense and brought energy to the game’s public, just as like he did in the local games against Mexico and Panama.

“We wanted to play in the defense with intensity. When you defend well, the offense falls into place,” said Clavell.

For the Argentines, although there was no joy in the result, there is indeed a new sense of hope with the group that was adding new phases and others that want to impress coach Sergio Hernández for when the time comes to build the group that will be at China 2019.

“We're not satisfied with the way we played, but we are in the sense that we never lost the drive to win the game. Although many people believed this would be a formality because we're already qualified, this is registered in the numbers,” said Hernández in his expressions to the media.

Because they have several players that don't have much experience with the national jersey, Hernández explained how he prepared a national team that had already secured their participation in the past window to the World Cup.

“We focused on improving our defense, the attack, our team work. For this window there were players that hadn’t played or that had only played in the first two windows. We didn't have enough time to build that bond. We met our expectations regarding attitude and wishes. Our motivation is to give our maximum no matter who's in front of us,” pointed out Hernández, who acknowledged the Boricua’s game plan.

Lucio Redivo, meanwhile, also highlighted the South Americans’ determination, who elevated their game despite the double-digit disadvantage they faced with 90 seconds to play in the full time.

“We fought until the end, we gave everything we had. Perhaps there were moments that things didn't work, and we tried to make up for it with courage and heart. We made mistakes, but we kept a line and an identity,” said the point guard that scored 16 points and six assists.

Argentina (9-2) will try to win Group E of the Qualifiers when they visit the United States (9-2) on Monday, at Greensboro.

FIBA