ARG/BRA/PAR/PUR – Argentina beat Puerto Rico to win Super 4
SALTA (2010 FIBA World Championship) – Argentina got the better of Puerto Rico 84-79 after overtime to win the Super 4 on their home soil. Luis Scola had nine of his team-high 19 points in the extra period to lead the hosts. Fabricio Oberto and Leo Gutierrez added 13 each. Scola and Oberto combined for 14 points to help Argentina jump out to a ...
SALTA (2010 FIBA World Championship) – Argentina got the better of Puerto Rico 84-79 after overtime to win the Super 4 on their home soil.
Luis Scola had nine of his team-high 19 points in the extra period to lead the hosts. Fabricio Oberto and Leo Gutierrez added 13 each.
Scola and Oberto combined for 14 points to help Argentina jump out to a 19-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The hosts pulled away some more in the second period by continuing to score in the paint before their midrange and three-point shooting kicked in. They took a 47-27 lead at the break.
Puerto Rico made some adjustments defensively to start the second half and the move paid off as Argentina were no longer scoring at will and that seemed to affect them at the other end where they lacked in intensity.
Having cut the deficit to eight, 56-48, by the end of the third quarter, the Puerto Ricans kept coming with Larry Ayuso and Angel Daniel Vassallo getting them within 69-68.
Carlos Delino buried a three with 1:18 left to give Argentina some breathing room, but Carmelo Lee and Ayuso made a pair of free-throws each in the final minute to tie the game at 72 and send it to overtime.
Ayuso opened the scoring in the extra session with a long bomb but Scola carried Argentina, scoring all but three of their points in the last five minutes. His basket with 15.5 seconds put his team up 82-79 and Puerto Rico then turned the ball over, leading to a Delfino dunk for the final scoreline.
Ayuso finished with 18 points for Puerto Rico, with Vassallo adding 14 and Peter John ramos had 13.
Meanwhile, Paraguay surprised Brazil’s South America Championship winning team 107-100 in overtime to finish third.
The Paraguayans led 98-95 and had the game all but wrapped-up in the closing seconds. However, they fouled Brazil guard Duda Machado on a three-point shot and he made all three free-throws to tie the game at 98 all and send it to overtime.
In the extra session, Paraguay played stifling defense and outscored their opponents 9-2 to record a memorable win.
Enrique Martinez finished with 27 points while Daniel Perez had 21 and Gustavo Torres 19 for Paraguay who finished fifth in the South American Championship played in Neiva, Colombia.
The Paraguayans led 22-21 after one quarter and trailed 44-43 at halftime. They could not slow down their opponents’ high-octane offense in the third period, but did enough to stay close, entering the final frame down 73-70.
Brazil led 95-91 lead with two minutes to go in regulation before Paraguay scored seven unanswered points to edge in front 98-95 and then came the foul to Duda.
Bruno Fiorotto paced Brazil with 22 points while Rafael Mineiro chipped in with 20.
FIBA-Americas