VALDIVIA (DIRECTV Liga de las Américas 2019) — CD Las Ánimas (Chile) gave the night's big surprised and knocked out current Liga de las Américas runners-up, Mogi das Cruzes (Brazil), by defeating them 108-106 in the second overtime to qualify to the tournament's semi-finals phase.

With this result, defending champions San Lorenzo de Almagro (Argentina) also secured their spot to the next phase after defeating San Martín de Corrientes, 71-59, in the Argentine duel that was the day's first game.

Valdivia’s squad made history in front of their fans at the Antonio Azurmendi Coliseum; this is the first time that a Chilean team moves on to semi-finals and it's also the first time they defeat a Brazilian side.

The contributions by foreign players were fundamental for the locals’ achievement. Brandon Robinson was the spearhead in the attack, with 35 points and 20/20 in free throws. Arnold Louis achieved 23 points and 11 rebounds, while Jonathan Moore scored 21 that included a key two-pointer with 47 seconds left to play in the final overtime that set the scoreboard to 108-104.

Mogi held the last ball to define the game or cause another additional OT as they were losing by two points, but small forward Guilherme Filipin missed an unguarded three-pointer from the corner after a pass by Shamell Stallworth.

At one point the Brazilians were losing by 17 (58-75) when there were 1:52 left for the third quarter to end and they had the drive to return in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 87. This forced the first overtime, but they couldn't sustain the streak that would have kept them alive.

“I'm very happy, this is the most significant thing that has happened in my career. I've always dreamed of coaching in Liga de las Américas. We were assigned the Group of Death and we prepared for it. We got good reinforcements,” said Las Ánimas coach, Argentine Lucas Zurita.

“The key was defending, that was what we focused on. That has been our strong point in the Chilean league. We tried to share the ball in the attack because we were aware of our power to score. That was the task and we fulfilled it — but that's not enough for us. Now that we’re moving ahead, we’ll go out and seek more wins,” highlighted Zurita.

Center JP Batista scored 34 points for Mogi and Shamell contributed 25.

“The game was crucial after losing against San Lorenzo in the first day, but we weren’t up to the task, we lost many balls (20). All credit is due to the home team, they did a great job. They grew together,” Batista reflected.

Tucker bolstered the champions

During the day's first game San Lorenzo were not the same overpowering team of the opening day, but small forward Dar Tucker showcased the quality of his attack and that was enough to grant the team the second triumph in this group — this time, against San Martín de Corrientes, 71-59, in what seemed as a re-edition of the most recent Argentine league final.

Tucker took the reins starting in the third quarter, with his one-on-one game. Like this, he started to open the road for his team, who had lost the first half (29-34) with very poor shooting percentages overall.

The Jordanian player ended with 26 points, 24 of them in the second half, to stand out as the star of the game and save the day for a San Lorenzo team that barely achieved a 35% effectiveness in field shots (25/71), including a very low 22% in three pointers, (8/36).

Marcos Mata added 10 points for the winning team, Uruguayan Matías Calfani did nine, and point guard José Vildoza represented the substitute players with eight.

“We lacked energy and none of the teams were effective. However, since the middle of the second quarter we improved the defense and that gave us a free way to be able to manage a pair of layups. Tucker appeared in the game's second half and that helped us a lot,” commented Vildoza after the match.

Tucker sealed the deal for his side when he scored a three-pointer that set the scoreboard at 67-57 with 1:51 minutes left.

“We've done our job up until now, we don’t have to overthink the results. We still have a game left and we’ll try to win it,” added the point guard.

For San Martín, who added their second defeat in a row, Lucas Faggiano was the best scorer, with 14 points. Foreign players Lee Roberts, Jeremiah Woods and Michael Hicks added 10 points each.

Hicks left the game in the third quarter after spraining his ankle. He couldn't come back to the court.

“It's a shame to lose, because we weren't able to sustain the gme. We defended well in the first game, but then Tucker let lose after keeping a low profile, and we started slipping,” analyzed Faggiano.

This Sunday, in the group's conclusion, Brazilians and Correntinos, who are both eliminated, will play at 6:10 PM, local game time. Then, Las Ánimas and San Lorenzo will face each other for Group C's first place.

FIBA