MIAMI (United States) – Brazil looked like the strongest team throughout the FIBA ​​U-18 South American Championship and they showed it in the Final by beating Argentina 73-59, at the “Papá” Carrillo gym in Caracas, Venezuela, to be crowned champions.

It was the second title won in the category (U-17, the tournament was held for a year due to the COVID pandemic) for the Brazilian team and the fourth in its history, behind Argentina, which has eight.

Shooting guard-forward Reynan Dos Santos, who won Most Valuable Player of the competition, and point guard Gabriel Landeira led Brazil with 17 points each while forward Guilherme Tesch added 14.

The match showed a high level of execution from both teams and in the first half it was a give and take. First Argentina took the lead with a 7-0 run but Brazil quickly tied it to 13 in the first quarter. In the second, Brazil began to seize the rebounds but could barely get ahead 34-32 at halftime.

In the third quarter Brazil began to make a difference as their long distance shots began to sink. They managed to have four 3-pointers, three in the last 2 1/2 minutes, including one by Tesch at the buzzer, to enter the fourth leading 55-44.

The good momentum continued with another shot from behind the arc by Reynan and then an and-one by Tesch to pull away 61-45 just two minutes into the fourth quarter. It seemed that Brazil had landed a knockout blow, but Argentina had other plans with Diego Collomb, Nicolás Stenta and Dylan Bordón, who tightened their defense and executed in transition, to get closer to 61-55 with a 10-0 run.

Brazil got second wind with two free throws by Reynan, and a ferocious dunk by Landeira as the shot clock expired, which made things 69-59 , subtracting 2:15 minutes to go.

Argentina, who could not score more after that sequence, paid the consequences of their 21 turnovers. Brazil dominated 30-6 in points after losses and was also able to run the floor effectively as a result of those errors (19-9 in fast break points).

For Argentina, Bordón was the top scorer with 14, but lost the ball 10 times. Trouet and Stenta added 10 points each.

FIBA