BELÉM (Brazil) - USA and Canada will play this Sunday for the gold medal of the FIBA U16 Americas Championship 2019, which takes place at the Guilherme Paraense Arena in Belém, Brazil, after winning their Semi-Final games against Argentina and the Republic Dominican.

 
It will be the third consecutive time that the two North American teams will face each other in the Final. On the previous occasions the red, white and blue team raised the trophy. For their part, the Argentines and the Dominicans will fight for the bronze medal.

In the last match of this Saturday, the United States smoothly cruised against Argentina with a 90-58 scoreboard to reach its sixth straight final in this tournament.

The USA, based on their physical power and depth, imposed the conditions and in each quarter, they expanded the advantage on the scoreboard. Those led by coach Mike Jones dominated virtually every field of the stats, but the most striking statistic was the 23 steals they got.

Jabari Smith II with 18 points and Christopher Livingstone with 16 and 12 rebounds, guided the USA attack, while Lucas Sigismonti led the Argentinians with 18 points.

Canada also did their thing and defeated the Dominican Republic, 97-81.

 
The Canadians were very effective in their offense by throwing 55 percent in field shots (69-38) and they were also lethal in the fast break to get 49 points.

The forward Caleb Houston led his squad with 29 points. The point guard Ryan Nembhard with 19 points and 12 assists also shined, as did Shaedon Sharpe, who added another 17 points.

Jean Montero again showed his torrid offense for the Caribbean team with 29 points and 10 rebounds.

Puerto Rico and Brazil, for the fifth place

In the games of the Reclassification Round, Puerto Rico and Brazil came out victorious against Uruguay and Mexico, respectively, and on the last day of competition, they will play for fifth place.

The Puerto Ricans opened the day with a crushing victory over the Charrúas with a score of 65-40. Uruguay started in pace and dominated the first quarter 16-6, but from then on it deflated. Puerto Rico closed the first half ahead 27-26 and started the second half with a 17-0 run, to take a 44-26 advantage, which ended up sinking his rival.

Johned Walker, with 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists, was the best for Puerto Rico. Agustín Ubal scored 13 points for Uruguay.

In the second game of the day, a basket after an offensive rebound by Vinicius Vicenti, with two seconds remaining, gave Brazil a 64-62 win over Mexico.

With two free throws by Felipe Motta, Brazil created a 62-57 advantage with only 15 seconds left. The Aztecs leveled the scoreboard at 62, after a three-point shot from Miguel Figueroa.

Brazil, in its last offense, missed a three-pointer from the hands of Vitor Ibiapina, but Vicenti’s clean-up rebound and eventual lay-up provided a celebration for the Brazilian fans.

Vicenti was the top scorer of the Brazilians with 18 points, while Motta contributed 17. Rodolfo Bolis added 11 points and 13 rebounds.

For the Central American team, Bryan Ceballos scored 17 with nine rebounds, Figueroa added 13 points and Yahir Bonilla had 12 points with 10 rebounds.

Mexico and Uruguay will clash for the seventh spot in the match that will open the last day of the continental championship.

FIBA