Belize shock Brazil, Venezuela surprise Puerto Rico, Dominicans beat Canada in OT: FIBA U18 AmeriCup 2024 - Day 1
What a Day 1 at the FIBA U18 AmeriCup 2024 as Belize shocked Brazil in a shootout, Venezuela surprised Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic knocked off Canada in OT while USA breezed past Argentina.
What a Day 1 at the FIBA U18 AmeriCup 2024 as Belize shocked Brazil in a shootout, Venezuela surprised Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic knocked off Canada in OT while USA breezed past Argentina. After all that, the rest of the tournament will be hard to match the level of intrigue. Here is a review of the first day of action in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Belize shock Brazil 106-102
Shock might not be big enough a word to describe this game as Belize pulled off undoubtedly one of the biggest upsets in U18 AmeriCup history with a 106-102 win over South American superpowers Brazil in Group B - in their first ever game in the competition.
Belize led by as many as 14 points including 88-74 with 9 minutes to go. Brazil managed to trim the gap to 103-102 before Josiah Moseley made one of two free throws with 18 seconds left. Brazil star Junior Kemm turned the ball over with 3.8 seconds to go and Elijah Favela iced the game with two free throws with 2.7 seconds remaining.
Mobley, who is from Round Rock, Texas and is committed to go to Villanova next season, poured in 31 points on 9-of-11 shooting and 11-of-13 free throws to go with 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Douglas Langford, who two weeks ago was named the MVP of the Basketball Without Borders Americas camp, tallied 28 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals.
Six Brazilians scored in double figures led by Kemm with 19 points while Enrico Borio flirted with a triple-double with 8 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists in the loss.
The story of the game was Belize just shot the ball better, hitting 51.5 percent from the field including 48.0 percent (12-of-25) from long range to go with 75.0 percent (24-of-32) from the foul line. Brazil made just 37.5 percent in the game, including 24.4 percent on three-pointers. Brazil dominated the stats otherwise: 59-41 rebounds (including 30-10 offensive rebounds), 28-18 points off turnovers, 25-5 second chance points. But in basketball you need to make shots.
To put this victory in perspective, Brazil have caputured seven podium finishes at the U18 AmeriCup in 11 appearances - three silvers and four bronzes. Belize for its part not only was making its debut, but the country had been nowhere on the basketball landscape just two years ago.
Brazil has a population of 205 million while Belize - a country in northeastern Central America that borders on Guatemala to the west and south and Mexico to the north and sits along the Caribbean Sea - is home to about 410,000 people.
Last summer, Belize were hosting the FIBA U17 CentroBasket 2023 for their first appearance in the competition - which serves as a qualifier for the U18 AmeriCup - since 2011. The last time they played in the FIBA U15 CentroBasket - the qualifier for the FIBA U16 AmeriCup - was also in 2011, and their last showing in the COCABA U16 - a qualifier for the U17 CentroBasket - was 2012.
Belize had just about the same roster last summer - besides Mobley - and they defeated Panama and Jamaica before losing to Puerto Rico in the final group game and falling to Dominican Republic in the Semi-Finals. But Belize defeated Mexico 87-72 in the Third Place Game to qualify for the U18 AmeriCup for the first time.
With one upset in the books, next up for head coach Matthew Smiling - yep, that is really his name - is United States. Brazil will look to rebound against archrivals and hosts Argentina.
Siaca game-winner gives Dominicans OT victory over Canada
Day 1 also featured an overtime battle between Americas powers as Frank Siaca’s basket with 28 seconds left gave Dominican Republic a 79-77 overtime victory over Canada in Group A.
The game had been close save for a brief 10-point advantage for Canada late in the third quarter. The game went to overtime and Canada moved ahead 77-73 with 108 seconds to play. After the Dominicans split two free throws, Canada turned the ball over and Danny Carbuccia knotted the game 77-77 with two foul shots with 50 seconds left.
Canadian big man Matthew Dann missed both of his attempts from the charity stripe with 37 seconds to go and then Siaca scored over Dann inside to give the Dominicans the lead. The waning seconds saw Canada miss four attempts to tie or win the game and Dominican Republic escaped with the victory.
Lucas Morillo scored 19 points for the Dominicans, Felix Jorge added 16 points and Carbuccia chipped in 12 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists and 6 steals. Canada were led by Tristan Beckford with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Canada next take on Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic face Venezuela.
Venezuela open play with first-ever FIBA youth win over Puerto Rico
As if all that was not enough, Venzuela opened the tournament with history as they knocked off Puerto Rico 80-69 in Group A. It was Venezuela’s first victory over the Puerto Ricans in a FIBA youth event.
Venezuela held a multi-possession lead for most of the second half and pulled a bit away in the closing minutes. Jeiminson Marquez collected 24 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks; Estoyan Vargas had 19 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists and Diego Sulbaren picked up 17 poitns, 7 rebounds and 7 assists in the win. Alejandro Aviles tallied 17 points and 12 rebounds for Puerto Rico, who converted just 41.8 percent of their shots.
Both teams have massive games on Day 2 with Puerto Rico opening the day with a showdown with Canada - one of those teams will be 0-2 - while Venezuela take on Dominican Republic - with the winner of that game moving to 2-0.
USA just too strong for hosts Argentina
Ten-time champions United States opened their campaign with a comfortable 88-66 win over Argentina in Group B with the hosts just unable to deal with the USA defense.
Argentina made just 31.9 percent of their shots and committed 23 turnovers. Still, the team used the home crowd to stay in the game for a while. USA led just 55-49 with 3 minutes left in the third quarter and the cushion was just 66-58 with 7 minutes to go. Darius Acuff paced the Americans with 22 points, Christopher Brown scored 15 points and Derrion Reid had 10 points. Tyler Kropp was Argentina’s leading scorer with 15 points.
Here the schedule for Day 2 - Bold times in CET
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