BELÉM (Brazil) - Canada, USA, Argentina and the Dominican Republic, advanced to the Semi-Finals and achieved their qualification to the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup next year, by winning their respective matches in the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA U16 Americas Championship 2019, which takes place at the Guilherme Paraense Arena in Belém, Brazil.

 
In what was undoubtedly the game of the day, the Dominican squad silenced the home crowd when guard Huáscar Cuevas hit a floater, attacking the basket, with only 1.1 seconds left, to give the victory to his team over Brazil, 73-71.

 
Cuevas finished with eight points; nevertheless, the shooting guard Jean Montero led the offense with 26 points, seven rebounds, the same number of assists, in addition to five steals.

In contrast, Brazil, although it dominated the rebounds (54-38) and the second chances (20-9), paid very dearly for its 23 turnovers.

Center Rodolfo Bolis was a giant with 20 points, 23 rebounds, three steals, and three blocks, but could not prevent the fall of the Amazon team. Guard Matheus Leoni added 19 points.

In the first match of the day, Canada took advantage of its greater physical strength and stature to overcome Mexico, 95-78. The leaders of Group B did not have their best day from the long distance, hitting two three-pointers in 15 attempts, but took the ball to the paint to control the opponent.

 
The Canadians managed 72 points under the basket and 43 in the counterattack, against the Mexicans who in the first half gave the fight and went to the break losing by only five (44-39). The northerners, moreover, were implacably capitalizing on the errors of the Aztecs. Canada scored 27 points, after the opponents 20 turnovers.

Caleb Houstan with 21 points, Ryan Nembhard with 20 and seven assists and Enoch Boakye with 19 points and 17 rebounds, stood out for Canada. On the Mexico side, Yahir Bonilla had 27 points, 20 rebounds, five assists, and three blocks.

At the second game, the United States was far superior to Puerto Rico and won with a score of 102-51. After giving in the first quarter by 14-13, the team of the bars and stars pressed in defense and did not give any kind of options to the Caribbean team.

 
The North Americans domain was in all facets of the game but where they made the most difference was in the counterattack, where they scored 40 points for only four of the Puerto Ricans.

Five players from the USA got 10 or more units, but the top scorer was the forward Jabari Smith II, with 15. Eric Navarro with 12 points and 3-3 in three-pointers led Puerto Rico.

For its part, Argentina played great collective defense and relied on the hot hand of the forward Francisco Conrradi to beat Uruguay, 62-53.

 
The Argentines pressed on the first line of defense and that allowed them to be in front from the start. In total, they stole 16 balls and forced their rival to 29 turnovers. Uruguay, despite approaching the scoreboard several times, could not capitalize due to so many errors.

On the offensive side, Conrradi materialized for the albicelestes with 25 points and four three-pointers. For the charrúas, their leader in the attack, forward Agustín Ubal scored 13 points.

This Saturday, in the Semi-Finals, Canada will face the Dominican Republic and the United States will go against Argentina. The winners will dispute the Final on Sunday, while the losers will play for the Bronze Medal.

In the reclassification round, Mexico will face Brazil and Puerto Rico will face Uruguay. The winners will play for fifth place and the losers for seventh.

FIBA