Biguá books their ticket to the Final 4 behind Sims’ 37

RIO DE JANEIRO (Brazil) - Sometimes it’s as simple as having the best player on the floor wearing your team’s jersey.

Donald Sims uncorked an incredible offensive performance Wednesday night to send Biguá straight into the Final Four of the 2021-22 Basketball Champions League Americas after defeating Boca Juniors, 99-81, at the Carioca Arena 1 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The pride and joy of Gaffney, South Carolina came into the game averaging 22 points per game and proceeded to match that production…before the end of the first half.

The dynamic scoring guard did damage all 3 levels, going into halftime without a miss from either the free throw line (5/5) or three-point range.

 

It was an absolute offensive masterpiece from the Appalachian State graduate, who kept finding ways of dissecting the different types of coverages that the Argentineans threw at him.

Boca Juniors found themselves down 15 at the end of the second quarter due to a toxic mix of poor defensive and careless ballhandling.

Veteran Adrián Boccia did all he could to keep them in the game, and the Buenos Aires outfit showed a completely different versions after intermission.

Several Boca players, led by Carlos Schattmann and Manuel Buendía, suddenly found their three-point strokes and Biguá’s double-digit lead began to crumble.

 

The Uruguayans seemed rattled but composed themselves in time to take a nine-point game into the final stanza.

However, Boca had one more run in them, cutting the deficit to five points with 7:32 left in the game on another long-range strike from Schattmann.

That’s as close as they would get, as Sims took matters into his own hands to quickly put the game out of reach for Biguá.

 

Sims finished with 37 points on a scorching-hot 13/16 from the field, going 5/5 from beyond the arc and 6/6 at the charity stripe.

He also added seven assists, making sure to keep his co-stars involved down the stretch.

Luis Santos took care of the rest with a massive 25-point, 10-rebound double-double in less than 25 minutes.

The Dominican big man added three blocks and a steal for good measure, fueling a Biguá offense that shot 52.1% from the field.

 

Diego González’s team did all of this despite a lackluster (for his high standards) night from Victor Rudd (12 points on 13 shots). Instrumental in that was the brilliant conducting from orchestra director Santiago Vidal, who made sure everyone was hitting their notes to the tune of 14 assists.

As for Boca, the awakening of their offense just came too little too late, with some late mistakes torpedoing their hopes in the final minutes.

García’s squad outrebounded their opponent (36-34) and shot 47.6% from three-point territory and 78.6% at the line, but Biguá took advantage of their 17 turnovers – converting them into a 31-11 edge in that basically matched the difference in the final score.

Biguá also won the points in the paint battle (52-36) to put the finishing touches on a fantastic outing that enshrines them as one of the four best team in the competition. They will now face Argentina’s Quimsa on Thursday for a spot in BCLA Final.

 

FIBA