Argentina men took to the court for the first time of the Championships, in the first game of day two, against Puerto Rico. A fresh looking Argentina side were clinical in the first half, taking their opportunities and pushing ahead. With a comfortable lead of 25 points at the end of third, coach Mauro Varela rotated his bench and extended the lead to finish with a 69-40 win. Argentina finished with three players in double figures Gustavo Villafane, Daniel Copa, Maximiliano David Ruggeri, 17, 16 and 11 points respectively, whilst Carlos Martinez with a double double of 16 points and 13 rebounds led Puerto Rico’s scoring.
In the second game of the day Brazil men were also on court for the first time, against Mexico. In a very even contest throughout the first half, Mexico only trailed by five points at half-time, 31-26. After the break it was Brazil who came out the stronger and went on a 6-0 run to give themselves some breathing space, ending the third quarter 12 points up. The fourth quarter finished all square, 19-19, ensuring Brazil the victory 68-56. Scoring from across the board for Brazil as four players had double figures, whilst Martinez Hernandez with 14 points and 13 rebounds topped the leader boards for Mexico.
The Canadian men’s team improved to 2-0 in the third game of the day with an 86-29 win against Costa Rica. Both teams battled for control of the game as they went shot for shot at the start, until Canada hit their stride with a 15-2 point run. The Canadian defence proved too much for the Costa Rican offence as Canada pushed out to a 45-13 advantage by half-time. The second half followed a similar pattern as the first as Canada worked towards their victory. Ben Moronchuk produced a team-best 17 points for the Canadians, whilst Pedro Rojas was Costa Rica’s top scorer with 11 points.
The Canadian women’s team also went 2-0 with a 62-42 victory against Brazil. Canada pushed ahead of Brazil in the opening quarter to forge an 8 point lead thanks to sharp shooting from Arinn Young. The Brazilians responded in the second by increasing the pressure on the Canadian offense and outscored Canada 12-9. Returning with a renewed intensity after half-time, the Canadian side widened the gap which they held on to for the rest of the game. Arinn Young hit a double double of 27 points and 12 rebounds, with Debora Costa scoring 14 points for Brazil.
The second women’s game of the day saw Argentina take on hosts Colombia. Colombia struggled to find their shooting touch in the first half, netting just 4 points to Argentina’s 22 points. However, Colombia put in a better shooting performance in the second half in a much more even game, and won the final quarter, 11-6. Argentina’s lead they had established though gave them their first win of the tournament, 39-19. Another dominant performance from USA men kept their perfect record, with a 85-36 win over Colombia.
For the second consecutive day, Jake Williams led the USA’s scoring with 25 points and 8 rebounds. USA benefited from their speed and strong defence as they scored 30 points off of Colombia’s 20 turnovers, and kept Colombia to single digits scoring in three of the four quarters: 26-8; 23-5; 17-14; and 19-9. Nelson Sanz Londono led the Colombia scoring with 15 points, and Jose Leep with 13 points.
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Image Courtesy of Inspire Colombia.
*Please not there live stream of the event will be available between the 26th August - 30th August
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