CANADA TO PLAY FOR BRONZE AT FIBA AMERICAS
Last Updated: September 14, 2009
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Canada will play Argentina for the bronze on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET (8 p.m. on The Score / 11 p.m. on Raptors NBA TV).
Brazil beat Canada 73-65 on Saturday in the semifinals of the FIBA Americas Championship to advance to Sunday's gold medal game against Puerto Rico.
Leandro Barbosa came back after a day of rest and scored 22 points for Brazil while Anderson Varejao netted 16 and Marcelinho Machado 15.
Joel Anthony (Montreal) led Canada with 17 points, Andy Rautins (Syracuse, N.Y.) had 12 and Jermaine Bucknor (Edmonton) 10. Shooting guard Carl English (Patrick's Cove, N.L.) did not play after leaving the tournament to attend to a family matter. He averaged 12.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists in the tournament.
Canada had qualified Friday for next year's world championship in Turkey with an upset 80-76 win over the Dominican Republic, an emotional high that might have contibuted to Saturday's loss, said Canadian head coach Leo Rautins.
“The guys were just emotionally spent from [Friday],” Rautins said in a conference call from San Juan. “I think there was so much excitement in qualifying [for the world championship] and accomplishing our primary goal for being here, it was very difficult for our players to recover today.
“It’s unfortunate, because I think it was a winnable game. I think physically we were OK, I could just tell by the players emotionally, looking into their eyes, the energy we need to play with — and have played with in the games we won — it just wasn’t there.”
The first quarter ended tied at 17 with Barbosa leading Brazil with six points and Anthony getting six for Canada's Senior Men's National Team.
The game stayed close in the second quarter as Machado tied the game at 25 with 2:22 left and scored another basket with 1:48 to give Brazil a two-point lead. At halftime the score was just 28-27 in favor of Brazil, leading Rautins to believe Canada could win.
"We felt it all the way through the first half," said Rautins. "Every timeout, I was telling [the] guys, 'We gotta find it guys, we gotta dig in, we gotta start pushing harder.'"
3rd quarter decisive
But in the third quarter Brazil pulled away, led by Barbosa, Varejao and Alex Garcia, and finished up 54-40.
"I guess in some ways we came down from that high level [Friday] and ended up being a little flat," said Canada's Anthony, a centre for the Miami Heat. "We were able to keep it close in the first half, but in the second half they were really able to pull away."
Canada's "Road Warriors" did come back in the fourth quarter and were down by just six points (69-63) after a three-pointer by Jermaine Bucknor with 25 seconds left, but Machado secured the lead for Brazil with four free throws.
"It was a close game in the first half. At the beginning of the fourth quarter we kept our defensive effort but Canada is always playing hard and were close to us," said Brazil's Varejao after the game.
Canada's preparations for Sunday's bronze medal game won't differ much from those for previous games at the tournament, according to Rautins.
“We’re going to prepare like it’s any other game. I think the guys realize there was an opportunity that kind of slipped away today, and I think they’re going to bounce back and be ready to play.”
***
In the other semifinal, Puerto Rico got revenge for a loss in the quarter-finals, defeating Argentina 85-80 to play for the gold medal Sunday against Brazil.
The Argentines had a strong first half, leading 41-32 at the break behind 20 points from Luis Scola. But Puerto Rico came out strongly in the third and by the end of the period had cut the lead to just two, 60-58.
In the fourth, Guillermo Diaz came off the bench to score five straight points to give Puerto Rico a 71-65 lead with 5:23 left. But Argentina came back and tied it at 71 after a three-pointer by Leo Gutierrez.
Puerto Rico's Carlos Arroyo had two key baskets late in the game: a two-pointer with 50.3 seconds left to make it
81-77, then a finger roll to bring the score to 83-80 with 14 seconds remaining. Argentina's Paolo Quinteros was blocked in his final three-point attempt and Larry Ayuso closed the game with a layup for the win.
Arroyo led Puerto Rico with 19 points, Carmelo Lee followed with 14 and Ayuso had 13.
Scola netted a game-high 31 for Argentina and Quinteros had 14.
***
Sunday's Schedule
Argentina vs. Canada (bronze medal game, 6:30 p.m. ET)
Tape delay on The Score at 8 p.m. ET and 11 p.m. RNBA TV
Puerto Rico vs. Brazil (gold medal game, 9 p.m. ET)
(with information from FIBA Americas)
Brazil beat Canada 73-65 on Saturday in the semifinals of the FIBA Americas Championship to advance to Sunday's gold medal game against Puerto Rico.
Leandro Barbosa came back after a day of rest and scored 22 points for Brazil while Anderson Varejao netted 16 and Marcelinho Machado 15.
Joel Anthony (Montreal) led Canada with 17 points, Andy Rautins (Syracuse, N.Y.) had 12 and Jermaine Bucknor (Edmonton) 10. Shooting guard Carl English (Patrick's Cove, N.L.) did not play after leaving the tournament to attend to a family matter. He averaged 12.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists in the tournament.
Canada had qualified Friday for next year's world championship in Turkey with an upset 80-76 win over the Dominican Republic, an emotional high that might have contibuted to Saturday's loss, said Canadian head coach Leo Rautins.
“The guys were just emotionally spent from [Friday],” Rautins said in a conference call from San Juan. “I think there was so much excitement in qualifying [for the world championship] and accomplishing our primary goal for being here, it was very difficult for our players to recover today.
“It’s unfortunate, because I think it was a winnable game. I think physically we were OK, I could just tell by the players emotionally, looking into their eyes, the energy we need to play with — and have played with in the games we won — it just wasn’t there.”
The first quarter ended tied at 17 with Barbosa leading Brazil with six points and Anthony getting six for Canada's Senior Men's National Team.
The game stayed close in the second quarter as Machado tied the game at 25 with 2:22 left and scored another basket with 1:48 to give Brazil a two-point lead. At halftime the score was just 28-27 in favor of Brazil, leading Rautins to believe Canada could win.
"We felt it all the way through the first half," said Rautins. "Every timeout, I was telling [the] guys, 'We gotta find it guys, we gotta dig in, we gotta start pushing harder.'"
3rd quarter decisive
But in the third quarter Brazil pulled away, led by Barbosa, Varejao and Alex Garcia, and finished up 54-40.
"I guess in some ways we came down from that high level [Friday] and ended up being a little flat," said Canada's Anthony, a centre for the Miami Heat. "We were able to keep it close in the first half, but in the second half they were really able to pull away."
Canada's "Road Warriors" did come back in the fourth quarter and were down by just six points (69-63) after a three-pointer by Jermaine Bucknor with 25 seconds left, but Machado secured the lead for Brazil with four free throws.
"It was a close game in the first half. At the beginning of the fourth quarter we kept our defensive effort but Canada is always playing hard and were close to us," said Brazil's Varejao after the game.
Canada's preparations for Sunday's bronze medal game won't differ much from those for previous games at the tournament, according to Rautins.
“We’re going to prepare like it’s any other game. I think the guys realize there was an opportunity that kind of slipped away today, and I think they’re going to bounce back and be ready to play.”
***
In the other semifinal, Puerto Rico got revenge for a loss in the quarter-finals, defeating Argentina 85-80 to play for the gold medal Sunday against Brazil.
The Argentines had a strong first half, leading 41-32 at the break behind 20 points from Luis Scola. But Puerto Rico came out strongly in the third and by the end of the period had cut the lead to just two, 60-58.
In the fourth, Guillermo Diaz came off the bench to score five straight points to give Puerto Rico a 71-65 lead with 5:23 left. But Argentina came back and tied it at 71 after a three-pointer by Leo Gutierrez.
Puerto Rico's Carlos Arroyo had two key baskets late in the game: a two-pointer with 50.3 seconds left to make it
81-77, then a finger roll to bring the score to 83-80 with 14 seconds remaining. Argentina's Paolo Quinteros was blocked in his final three-point attempt and Larry Ayuso closed the game with a layup for the win.
Arroyo led Puerto Rico with 19 points, Carmelo Lee followed with 14 and Ayuso had 13.
Scola netted a game-high 31 for Argentina and Quinteros had 14.
***
Sunday's Schedule
Tape delay on The Score at 8 p.m. ET and 11 p.m. RNBA TV
(with information from FIBA Americas)
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1. ARGENTINA
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19. CANADA
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