Franca continue to dominate, Real Esteli pick up victory on Day 2

MIAMI (United States) – Franca (BRA) dominated Obras (ARG) and added another win in Group D, while Real Esteli (NCA) opened their season with a victory over Honey Badgers in Group A. Here’s what happened in BCL Americas Day 2 action.

Franca 104 – 87 Obras

Franca continued their winning ways after another brilliant second half performance to take down Obras 104-87 at Gimnasio de la Casa del Deporte in Concepcion, Chile on Saturday night.

Franca’s strong rotation of David Jackson, Lucas Dias, Lucas Mariano, and Santiago Scala made usual impact. But it was Marcio Santos off the bench in the final minutes of the quarter who reinforced what a well-rounded team Franca is to deal with.

Joaquin Rodriguez and Jeffrey Solarin kept Obras close behind as they played gritty defense and were taking any shot attempts that came their way on the floor to lead their team to turn their eight point deficit into a one point lead at the half.

Georginho De Paula had a huge second quarter from beyond the arc himself, but sloppy turnovers allowed Obras to stay hot and stay in front.

The third quarter started with Franca on a 6-0 run to take back the lead thanks to their starting rotation back on the floor. They held Obras to 17 points in the third and claimed a 10 point lead going into the final frame.

Despite the best efforts of Juan Pablo Venegas Schaefer and Emiliano Serres, who had been solid for Obras all night, they couldn’t overpower the strength of how deep Franca’s talent runs.

Six Franca players finished with 11 or more points including De Paula having a stellar night for the second game in a row with 24 points while Dias added 18 points and 12 rebounds and Santos added 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Schaefer led all Obras scorers with 20 points including 12 points from beyond the arc, while Rodriguez finished with 17 points.

Honey Badgers 82 – 94 Real Estelí

Real Esteli came back after a first half deficit to take down Honey Badgers in a 94-82 win at Auditorio José Maria Arteaga in Queretaro, Mexico on Saturday night.

After a loss to Libertadores the night before, the Honey Badgers came hot out of the gate shooting almost 50 percent from the field in the first half and taking an 8-point lead in the first quarter.

Jordan Williams scored 11 first half points going a perfect 100 percent from the free throw line while Sean Miller-Moore added 8 points from the floor.

Jezreel De Jesus returned to BCLA action and was back in peak form with 9 points in the first half, but it was Jared Ruiz with 10 points who led the charge for Esteli to come within 2 points at the half, trailing 41-39.

In the third quarter Esteli made their statement with a whopping 34 points while holding Honey Badgers to just 14, as they continued to struggle beyond the arc.

Ruiz led all scorers with 27 points while De Jesus added another 19 but five scorers finished with 12 or more points for Real Esteli.

Honey Badgers had late stamina they were unable to show against Libertadores, but were unable to contain Esteli’s dominant rotation which lead them to their second loss on a BCL Americas stage.

Jahvon Henry-Blair had another standout performance leading Honey Badgers with 20 points while Miller-Moore added 18.

FIBA