Sesi Franca, Quimsa pick up decisive victories; Quimsa clinch Quarterfinals berth

MIAMI (United States) - Quimsa locked up their spot in the Final 8 of the Basketball Champions League Americas, while Sesi Franca also picked up a big win, as both teams kept the momentum going before the next round.

Sesi Franca 105 - 65 Obras

Sesi Franca continued their perfect BCLA campaign after an impressive and convincing 40-point blowout win at the expense of Obras.

Georginho De Paula set the tone early and got off to a quick start for Sesi Franca, scoring 10 points in the first quarter and making both of his three-point attempts, including one at the buzzer to close out the quarter.

Sesi Franca picked up the pace in the second quarter, outscoring Obras 29-16 to open up a 17-point lead at halftime behind a strong showing from Lucas Mariano, who had all 13 of his points in the first 20 minutes of action.

 

It was then Lucas Dias' turn to catch fire, as he scored 10 of his 15 total points in the third quarter and knocked down two threes from the same spot in the corner. Sesi Franca scored a game-high 30 points in the quarter and extended their big lead out even further.

 

De Paula, Dias and Mariano were three of the team's five players to score in double figures, and the trio combined for 48 points. De Paula led the way and was the top performer with 20 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals while shooting 8-of-10 from the field in only 24 minutes of action. The 26-year-old also finished with a game-high 28 efficiency.

 

Along with his 15 points, Dias grabbed 7 rebounds, while Mariano had 2 rebounds and 3 steals to go with his 13 points.

Sesi Franca assisted on 31 of their 39 made shots and had a 31:12 assist-to-turnover ratio. They also had a +26 advantage in points in the paint, +28 advantage in points from the bench and forced Obras into 19 turnovers which led to them getting out into transition to score 28 fast break points.

Three players each scored 12 points for Obras including Lautaro Berra, Isaac Copeland and Joaquin Rodriguez. The three players combined to make 12 of the team's 23 shots from the field.

Obras only got 8-of-30 three-point attempts to fall and got outscored by 18 points from behind the arc.

Sesi Franca remain undefeated at 5-0 in Group D and the Brazilian club will close out the group stage against UdeC on Sunday February 5.

Obras, meanwhile, fall to 1-4 and the Argentinian club will next face UdeC on Saturday February 4 in a do-or-die situation, as the winner of this game will advance to the Quarterfinals.

 

Quimsa 88 - 65 Bigua

Quimsa could officially celebrate moving on to the Quarterfinals thanks to outscoring Bigua 48-32 in the second half on the way to their 23-point victory.

Franco Baralle poured in 13 points in only four minutes on the court for Quimsa in the first quarter and outscored Bigua by himself over those first 10 minutes (13-11). He also went 4-of-4 from three-point range.

Quimsa's 17-point lead was cut to five at halftime, as Bigua doubled up the home team 24-12 in the second quarter. Luis Santos led the comeback, as he scored 8 of his 16 total points in the frame.

Baralle closed the first half with a driving layup in the final seconds to put Quimsa back out to a five-point lead.

 

After Bigua grabbed a 47-44 lead half-way through the third quarter, Quimsa then closed the quarter on a 17-5 run to take a 61-52 lead into the final quarter.

Baralle and Quimsa picked up where they left off from early in the game and the 23-year-old scored 9 points in the fourth quarter to help Quimsa pull away by as many as 23 points.

Baralle was the player of the game and finished with a game-high 24 points along with 3 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals off the bench. The Argentine guard converted 7-of-9 three-pointers and had a 28 efficiency. Before this game, Baralle's season-high was 14 points.

 

In the end, Bigua's 15 turnovers hurt them, as Quimsa scored 21 points off of them. Quimsa also had twice as many bench points than Bigua (40-20), with Baralle leading the charge.

Bigua got solid performances from their frontcourt duo of Santos and Victor Rudd. Santos recorded a double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds along with all 3 of the team's blocks, while Rudd finished with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists.

Quimsa improved to 4-1 in Group B and have officially clinched their spot in the Quarterfinals. The Argentinian club will close the group stage against Minas on Sunday February 5. Minas have also qualified to the Quarterfinals from the group with this Quimsa win.

Bigua, on the other hand, fall to 1-4 and have officially been eliminated from the competition. The Uruguayan club will look to close group stage on a high note against Minas on Saturday February 4.

 

FIBA