BUENOS AIRES (DIRECTV Liga de las Américas 2018) – San Lorenzo y Mogi das Cruzes will be the stars of the Liga de las Américas final game. The host of the Final4, being held in Buenos Aires, won over Estudiantes de Concordia and remained as the only undefeated team of the competition while Mogi left behind Regatas Corrientes.

The defining game will be the third match between San Lorenzo and Mogi in this tournament. In both previous games, the Argentine team prevailed, but in none by more than 5 points (101-96 in Group B and 68-64 in Group F). A great battle is expected in Boedo.

At the beginning of the game, Mogi recovered from a bad start (Regatas won the first quarter 21-14) and from the second quarter on, he dominated the action in order to keep control of the scoreboard until the end of the game, even controlling a reaction of Regatas near the end, and thus take a historical victory by 78-74. The Guerrinha team, which had already played the semifinals in 2016, qualified for the first time to the FIBA Liga de las Américas finals.

Throughout the whole tournament, the Brazilian team had Shamell Stallworth (top scorer of the game with 19 points), Tyrone Curnell (18 points and 11 rebounds) and Larry Taylor (13 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists) as great players. Collectively speaking, the power in the rebounds (Mogi took 43 against only 26 from Regatas) and the points in counterattack (26 of the Brazilians against 2 of the Argentines) were key for the success of Mogi das Cruzes. In Gabriel Piccato’s team, the most outstanding player was Santiago Vidal with 14 points and 8 assists.

In the second round, San Lorenzo crushed Estudiantes de Concordia with a convincing 101-78 thanks to a brilliant performance by Gabriel Deck, who scored 30 points and 7 rebounds. Gonzalo García’s team, who went to halftime break with a slim advantage of 6 points, exploded in the third quarter to increase the advantage to 18 and then there was no opportunity to tie.

The local team scored 15 triples in 32 attempts and took every opportunity they had to run (scored 28 counterattack points against 6 of their opponent). In addition to Deck’s great performance, San Lorenzo had really good contributions from Dar Tucker (14 points, with 4 of 5 in triples), Selem Safar (12 points, with 4 of 9 in triples) and Nicolás Aguirre (11 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists). In the team of Lucas Victoriano, the most outstanding were Anthony Smith (16 points) and David Doblas (14 points and 6 rebounds).

This Sunday, San Lorenzo and Mogi will spice up the final game of the eleventh edition of the Liga de las Américas in which a brand new champion will be crowned for this competition. Mogi had an international victory in 2016, by winning the Liga Sudamericana. For its part, San Lorenzo won the last two leagues of Argentina and is one step away from its greater goal, the conquest of America.

FIBA