Gabriel Deck powers Argentina over USA to reach spot in Final

RECIFE (Brazil) - Argentina punched their ticket to the championship at the FIBA AmeriCup 2022 after an impressive 82-73 Semi-Final win against USA behind Gabriel Deck's big performance of 30 points.

This win was Argentina's third out of 13 games against USA in the AmeriCup, and they also were able to snap a three-game losing streak in the competition.

Both teams struggled to find their shot from three-point in the first quarter, but Argentina converting 9-of-10 free-throws was a big reason why they held a 20-17 lead after the first 10 minutes.

Argentina had their biggest lead of the game at 30-19 early in the second quarter, but soon after, a 10-2 run by USA put them right back into the game. After scoring 10 points in the opening quarter, Deck added 6 points in the second quarter to give him a total of 16 points at halftime to lead all scorers, while USA had a balanced attack with five players scoring at least 4 points.

The third quarter was evenly matched, as USA outscored Argentina 19-18. A three-pointer by Anthony Lamb at the buzzer cut their deficit to 58-52, as they looked to gain some momentum heading into the final quarter.

Norris Cole caught fire to start the fourth quarter, scoring 10 points on a perfect 4-of-4 from the field to help bring USA back and give them a 66-65 lead, but Argentina never lost focus, going on a 14-4 run of their own to open up a 79-70 lead that ultimately put the game out of reach with less than a minute left.

Gabriel Deck was named TCL Player of the Game and finished with a tournament-high 30 points along with 7 rebounds on 9-of-13 shooting from the field and 12-of-13 from the free-throw line. Nicolas Laprovittola was the game's second highest scorer, finishing with 18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals for the victors.

Free-throws proved to be a big difference in the game, as Argentina got to the line 29 times, making 24 of them, while USA only attempted 10 total. Five turnovers in the fourth quarter proved to be costly for USA and stalled their attempt for a comeback.

Cole led USA again in defeat with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 2-of-6 from three-point range. The guard is the only player for USA to have scored more than 10 points in each of their games in the AmeriCup. He has also scored multiple three-pointers in every game.

Argentina will face off in the Final on Sunday against the winner of the second Semi-Final matchup between hosts Brazil and Canada, where they will look for their first AmeriCup gold medal since 2011 after finishing as runner-up in 2015 and 2017.

USA, meanwhile, won't be able to defend their 2017 title and they will now play against the loser of Brazil-Canada in the Third-Place Game on Sunday.

"A lot of credit to Argentina and Pablo [Prigioni]. That's a good team, a veteran team, a lot of good players, a lot of different weapons. They did a great job in the end. We made our runs, but they did a good job taking it up another notch and then we lost our patience. The hard thing was the amount of times that we put them at the free-throw line. ... And then we kind of got stagnant offensively at the end. All the credit in the world to Argentina for their preparation and what they did." - USA head coach Alex Jensen

"I think the guys did an amazing job defensively. ... I think every single shot they [USA] made, they have to work for it. Credit to these guys that bought in the gameplan and executed perfectly. No easy baskets for these guys [USA]. ... I'm proud of the whole team. We are where we want to be. Now we gotta wait and see if we can finish the job tomorrow." - Argentina head coach Pablo Prigioni

FIBA