FIBA Basketball

    Jamaica and Panama will play for 5th place

    MEXICALI (Mexico) - There was still basketball to play at the Instituto Del Deporte Y La Cultura Fisica for four teams who did not advance to the FIBA U17 CentroBasket semi-finals. That disappointment did

     MEXICALI (Mexico) - There was still basketball to play at the Instituto Del Deporte Y La Cultura Fisica for four teams who did not advance to the FIBA U17 CentroBasket semi-finals. That disappointment did not show in the first two games on Saturday from Mexicali, Mexico.

    Jamaica 81 - 59 Aruba

    After a sluggish start, Jamaica caught fire and won their second game of the FIBA U17 CentroBasket Championship in the opening round of Classification games.

    After the first period the game was tied at 12-12 as Aruba looked to win their first game of the tournament. After trailing 8-0 to begin the contest, Aruba ran off nine-points in a row to take their first lead of the tournament at 9-8 led by five quick points by Bjorn Thijsen.

    Things turned around for Jamaica in the second quarter outscoring their Caribbean counterparts 31-13 to take a 43-25 lead at the break.

    London Johnson (16-points) and Marcus McDonald (15-points) led the first half charge for Jamaica while Kyrian Brooks scored 11 for Aruba. Both teams shot poorly in the first two quarters, but the difference was 23-points off 19 Aruba turnovers.

    Jamaica led by as many as 29 in the second half mainly due to easy buckets continuing to cash in on Aruba miscues. The lead after three quarters was 69-45. Ten minutes later, Jamaica claimed their second win of the tournament 81-59.

    Johnson (29) and McDonald (28) finished as top scorers for Jamaica while Jean Salomond led three in double figures for Aruba with 19-points and an impressive 19-rebounds.

    Next up for Jamaica is tomorrow’s round two of Classification play versus Panama for fifth and sixth place while Aruba takes on El Salvador for the seventh and eighth spots in the tournament.

    Panama 94 - 60 El Salvador

    A 29-11 third quarter sent Panama on their way getting past a scrappy El Salvador squad 94-60 in round 1 of Classification play Saturday afternoon.

    In the most complete game of the tournament for Los Canaleros, they shared the ball dishing out 28-assists on 61 field goals, shot 53-percent from the field and 11 of the 12 players donning the red, white and blue scored.

    Panama’s physical style of play driving the ball to the rim helped them dominate the points in the paint 26-12 in the first half giving them a 45-30 lead at the half. Andres Orocu led nine scorers for Panama with eight-points. Juan Ibarra, who continues to make a push for post-tournament recognition led El Salvador with nine points and six rebounds.

    The game was put out of reach in the third quarter. Panama dominated on both ends of the floor as El Salvador was held scoreless until 6:33 to go in the period. Victor Julio (7-points) was one of five players who scored in the period.

    Daniels Machore led Panama with 15-points on 3-5 from 3-point land. El Salvador was paced by Jaime Gonzalez with 13.

    Panama moves on to face Jamaica in Round 2 of Classification as they will play for the fifth and sixth positions in the tournament tomorrow. El Salvador continues play against Aruba for seventh and eighth.

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