Brazil complete Group F sweep after staving off Montenegro

NANJING (China) - Brazil staved off a resilient Montenegro, 84-73, to complete a sweep of Group F in Nanjing at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019.

Brazil and Montenegro battled back and forth early in the game as coach Aleksandar Petrovic chose to rest his usual starters, but the Brazilians' unconvincing play eventually forced him to bring in Leandro Barbosa sooner than he wanted to right the ship.

Brazil led at the half, 43-38, and appeared to blow the game open in the third quarter thanks to tight defense and great transition offense. They turned a five-point halftime lead into a lead as high as 15 before settling for a 12-point lead heading into the fourth quarter and holding on for their third win in as many games.

Turning Point: Despite staring at a 12-point deficit at the start of the final 10 minutes, the Montenegrins had no quit. They clawed their way back and trimmed Brazil's lead to just one point, 73-72, with four minutes left before Barbosa - as he seems to have always done at this World Cup - sparked Brazil's end-game push to seal the 11-point victory.

TCL Player of the Game: The seemingly ageless Marcelinho Huertas was a godsend for Brazil in this game, shooting 7-of-10 from the field en route to a team-high 16 points along with 6 assists and 2 rebounds. The 36-year-old picked his spots well and came up huge, especially in the third quarter when Brazil built their double-digit cushion.

Stats Don't Lie: Rebounding between the two teams was pretty even at 34-32 in Brazil's favor, but the Brazilians made the most of their chances. Coach Petrovic's wards tossed in 17 second chance points to just eight from Montenegro. The battle in the paint was also win by Brazil, which had 42 points in the paint while Montenegro had just 26.

Bottom Line: It was a fitting ending to Brazil's Group F play given their stirring comeback against New Zealand and their scintillating upset of Greece. Coach Petrovic's squad were deserving of the top place in their group as they head to play USA and Czech Republic.

Montenegro, for their part, continue to seek their first ever World Cup win, and they will have to try and notch it against Turkey and Japan.

They Said: "The difference is that Brazil made a lot o shots and we missed our last three shots. It’s tough. First time being here, you want to try to get a win, make history, but we were in a tough group, two top-10 teams in our group. But I liked our energy in this group compared to our last game." - Montenegro guard Derek Needham

"We lost confidence after the 40-point loss against Greece. We played better against New Zealand and tonight we played a pretty solid game. But Brazil is a very good team. We need to motivate ourselves for our classification games. We are still in the World Cup, we have two more games and everybody knows what our goals are. " - Montenegro forward Milko Bjelica

"I am always ready to come off the bench and try to change our game for good. I managed to do that today, and I am really for me for the team and for our team.. We need to continue to play at this level because the Second Round is even harder." - Brazil forward Marquinhos Sousa

"We have tried to play good basketball against every team in this group, but New Zealand was our target. Unfortunately, the game against New Zealand wasn't according to what we planned. Two more games... those will be tough games for us, but I hope my players stand up to the task." - Montenegro head coach Zvezdan Mitrovic

FIBA