VALDIVIA, CHILE (FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers 2019) — Venezuela overcame Chile 70-51 at the end of Group B from the FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers 2019 at the Antonio Azurmendi stadium in the city of Valdivia. They arrived at the second phase with a 5-1 record. The Chilean team advanced in third place with five losses and one win.

In the first game between both teams, held in the Domo Bolivariano at Barquisimeto, the local team had won by a wide margin, 77-56. This time, Gregory Echenique was the best scorer with 19 points (5/7 two-pointers and 9/10 three-pointers), 7 rebounds and three assists; while José Vargas scored 14 points and 4 rebounds; and Néstor Colmenares ended with 11 points. Gregory Vargas was important under the rim with 8 rebounds, 6 of them defensive. For the Chilean team, Felipe Haase’s 12 points were not enough, the only player with double-digit points, or the 8 points by point guard Erik Carrasco.

The first quarter was even, with the local team playing a better game than the one against Colombia, and Venezuela was not the same team that challenged Brazil. This quarter ended 22-18 in favor of the Chilean team, who had 7 points from Néstor Colmenares, while the local Felipe Hasse (4/4 two-pointers) was the best scorer with 8 points. In general, Chile was erratic on the three-pointers (0/4) and had a hard time on defense with José Vargas’s free shots and the points from the paint by Néstor Colmenares.

The second quarter started with the same score, 25-25. A shot by Ignacio Carrión made the Antonio Azurmendi Stadium explode in cheers. Coach Claudio Jorquera rotated the bench team and at the end, Sebastián Suarez shot a three-pointer that once again made Valdivia explode, and the home team got closer to the Venezuelans, but a two-pointer by Colmenares at the end left the score with a 9 points difference, 43-34 (21-16).

After the break, Chile could not defend Venezuela’s game, who took from them 15 points. The local team did not feel comfortable and had a lot of complications in the court. The difference got even wider, by 18 points, and it was noticeable at the end of the quarter, 5-12 (39-55). The last quarter was the most even, ended 12-15, but there was a 19 points difference.

The Venezuelans captured 46 rebounds (32 defensive) and gave 19 assists, while shooting 16 of 37 two-pointers (43.02), and 7 of 21 three-pointers (33.3.) The Chilean team scored only 14.3 percent of three-pointers (2-14) and 36.7 percent from the field, while capturing 31 rebounds (24 defensive) and giving 15 assists.

The teams led by Fernando Duró and Claudio Jorquera will play in the next phase of the World Cup Qualifiers the best three teams from Group C: Canada, the Dominican Republic, and the Virgin Islands. That phase will start next September, and then continue on November 2018 and February 2019.

The points from this round, just as the first one, are important because they rollover until the final qualifiying process in February 2019, when the seven best teams of the hemisphere find their ticket to the World Cup in China 2019 on September of the same year.

Erik Carrasco, Chile’s point guard, stated: “We played the best basketball against a rival that is better than Colombia. We definetly played better. We didn’t want to end this window with two losses. There’s still that bitter taste from having lost to Colombia. The positive thing is that we qualified for the second round. Now we are working with the calculator, something that did not happened before. We must continue going forward to try to qualify more directly. It is very important to be between the best 12 teams and we are in fifth place in South America, something that was not found for some time.”

“Valdivia is the best place for Chile to play. They thought that against Colombia we were going to win easily but what people don’t know is that in our basketball, we have to play the games. Our worst game was against them in these 6 games.”

FIBA