Guaros and UniCEUB complete 2016 DIRECTV Liga de las Americas semifinal picture

BARQUISIMETO (Liga de las Americas) – This weekend was a classic for continental club competition with host Guaros and Brazil’s Uniceub qualifying to the semifinals of the 2016 DIRECTV Liga de las Americas. It was full of drama and great action up until the final seconds of the last game in Group D.

The key game of the group was Venezuela’s Guaros vs. Puerto Rico’s Capitanes de Arecibo on Saturday night. It was a high scoring affair that began with the unfortunate news of Capitanes losing David Huertas to a back injury. No small loss for the Puerto Rican team but they were able to stay in the game thanks to an amazing performance by Guillermo Diaz. The national team shooting guard put on a show for Capitanes.

Guaros fought back with a huge second half that was led by point guard Anthony Goods who scored 16 points in the third quarter. It was a 32-18 quarter for the Venezuelan club.

The host was able to maintain pressure on Capitanes’ defense by attacking the basket consistently and effectively. It caused the Puerto Rican team to lose focus and pick up a couple of technical fouls late in the game that ended up costing them badly. Guaros won by the score of 92-85.

Guaros had defeated Cuba’s Capitalinos on the first night of competition in Group D by a score of 91-65 and lost a close game against Brazil’s Uniceub on the closer by the score of 75-73.

This game was a must-win for the Brazilian club, who had fallen to Capitanes in the group opener in a thriller that ended up with a spectacular game-winning shot by Diaz.

Uniceub then proceeded to beat Cuba’s Capitalinos by a big margin and needed to win against Guaros to qualify for the semis. And so they did. With only nine players on their roster, having lost veteran Guilherme Giovannoni and big man Ronald Reis, Uniceub defeated the host behind an exciting collective performance that included four players scoring in double figures.

Henrique Pillar led the charge with a double-double, 15 points and 10 rebounds, in the win.

Capitanes, after a very good weekend in which they ended with a 2-1 record, fell short of advancing to the next phase.

The semifinals are now set with the big story being the fact that the four Brazilians participating in the 2016 DIRECTV Liga de las Americas, Bauru, Flamengo, Mogi das Cruzes and Uniceub have all qualified.

Completing the semifinal picture are Argentina’s Quimsa, Panama’s Correcaminos, Uruguay’s Malvin and recently qualified Guaros.

Semifinals will be played in two groups of four teams. Each group will be played in a round robin format where the top two teams will advance to the Final Four. First semifinal will be played on February 19-21 and second semifinal on February 26-28.

Decision on hosting cities and configuration of both semifinal groups will be announced on Wednesday.

For the most complete coverage of the 2016 DIRECTV Liga de las Americas, please visit ligamericas.com.


FIBA