Argentina, Canada, Dominicans, USA reach FIBA U18 AmeriCup Semis, book FIBA U19 World Cup tickets
Argentina, Canada, Dominican Republic and United States qualified for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2025 by winning their FIBA U18 AmeriCup Quarter-Finals match-ups.
Argentina, Canada, Dominican Republic and United States have qualified for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2025 by winning their Quarter-Finals showdowns in the FIBA U18 AmeriCup 2024. The quartet joins hosts Switzerland as five of the 16-team field is filled.
Argentina have now made the U19 World Cup for the 16th time in 17 events. The 2017 U19 world champions Canada will be making their 14th appearance and 10th straight. The Dominicans return to the U19 World Cup for the first time since 2015 and it will be just their third trip to the tournament. And USA have never missed the competition and won it eight times, though they will be looking for redemption after finishing fourth in 2023 - the first time they missed the podium since taking fifth in 2011.
Here is the link to the review of Day 1
Here is the link to the review of Day 2
Here is the link to the review of Day 3
Before we review the Quarter-Finals, here is a look at the Semi-Finals matchups and classification games.
And here is the review of the Quarter-Finals.
Dominican late run douses Belize upset dreams
Dominican Republic foiled Belize’s hopes of making history by winning 79-69 thanks to a late run in the game. Belize were looking to shock the Dominicans as well after beating Brazil on the opening day of the tournament.
The game was even at halftime and after three quarters and Belize were leading 61-58 with under 7 minutes to play. Then the Dominicans reeled off a 15-3 surge to take control of the game. Dominican Republic grabbed 22 offensive rebounds to 10 and that resulted in a 21-6 advantage in second chance points. They also turned 21 Belize turnovers into 23 points.
Lucas Morillo scored 20 points with 16 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals while Danny Carbuccia collected 17 points and 5 assists and Wilmer De La Rosa contributed 11 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks for the winners. Josiah Moseley scored 25 points to go with 13 rebounds and 3 blocks but he committed 11 turnovers. Ian Parham scored 17 points but Douglas Langford was limited to just 9 points.
Canada give up 17-point lead, fight past Brazil
Canada wasted a 17-point lead but still managed to come back and fight off Brazil with a 72-68 victory. The disappointment for Brazil is massive as they lost to Belize in the opener and now have missed the U19 World Cup for the fifth time in the last six editions.
Canada scored the first 13 points of the game and led 22-5 early in the second quarter. The cushion was still 53-40 with 3 minutes left in the third quarter when Brazil started to come back. The South Americans went on an 18-2 run to pull ahead 58-55. Canada were leading just 65-63 with 64 seconds to go but they made seven of eight free throws down the stretch to get the win. Canada won the game by holding Brazil to just 26.3 percent shooting including 28.1 percent on two-pointers.
Jaion Pitt led the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds, Tristan Beckford added a double-double of his own with 16 and 10 and Spencer Ahrens also had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Pedro Pastre scored 11 points for Brazil with four others picking up 10 points.
Argentina escape with win over Venezuela
Hosts Argentina gave their fans reason to cheer as they fought off a comeback attempt by Venezuela to win 79-75. The Venezuelans are still looking for their first U19 World Cup berth since 2003.
The game was close for the first half before Argentina started to open a larger gap, leading 62-49 early in the fourth quarter. Venezuela were down 69-60 with 5 minutes to go but trimmed the gap to 70-68. It was 72-70 for the hosts with 64 seconds left but Venezuela managed just one point in the next 60 seconds to let the surprise slip away. Argentina won thanks to holding Venezuela to just 36.2 percent shooting including 38.2 percent on two-pointers.
Tyler Kropp scored 22 points - including 14-of-15 free throws, and Felipe Minzer totalled 19 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Jeiminson Marquez paced Venezuela with 24 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 5 blocks.
USA pull away from Puerto Rico in second half
United States were the first team to reach the Semi-Finals as they grabbed a convincing 98-66 victory over Puerto Rico.
The game was still close at halftime with USA up 46-39 but the Americans took the third quarter 25-14 and cruised to the win. They out-rebounded Puerto Rico 73-38 with 32 offensive rebounds leading to a 26-11 advantage on second chance points. Puerto Rico also only managed to shoot 32.4 percent for the game.
Four USA players scored in double figures, topped by John McKenney’s 17 points and Darius Acuff added 16 points and Derrion Reid chipped in 11 points and 12 rebounds and Morez Johnson had 11 points and 17 rebounds. Brandon Lee poured in 22 points in the loss.
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