Costa Rica join Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominicans in Centrobasket U17 Semis; London Johnson with 37 points
Costa Rica join Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominicans in Centrobasket U17 Semis; London Johnson with 37 points
Costa Rica booked a spot in the FIBA Centrobasket U17 Championship Semis along with reigning champs Mexico as well as Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic. Oh and London Johnson scored 37 points.
The Semi-Finals of the FIBA Centrobasket U17 Championship 2021 are set and three of the quartet of Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Puerto Rico will qualify for the FIBA U18 Americas 2022. Costa Rica held off a comeback attempt by Panama to book a spot in the Semis while the Dominicans were too much for London Johnson and Jamaica and both Mexico and Puerto Rico remained undefeated.
The Semi-Finals will see the tantalizing showdown of Puerto Rico vs Dominican Republic followed by Mexico playing Costa Rica.
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Costa Rica 70-66 Panama
Costa Rica remained alive for a spot in their second-ever FIBA U18 Americas Championship as they fended off a comeback from Panama to win 70-66 and finish second in Group A and book a ticket for the Semi-Finals. Costa Rica, whose only previous U18 continental appearance came in 1990, gave up just eight first quarter points and led 35-21 at halftime and built an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter. Andres Orocu hit a floater to get Panama within three points with 27 seconds left. But Emmanuel Hernandez picked up a big offensive rebound with 11 seconds and iced the game with a free throw. Julian Quiros scored 21 points to lead Costa Rica while Fabian Soto had 16 points and Andres Mora collected 15 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 7 steals for the winners. Humberto Kentish paced Panama with 18 points.
Puerto Rico 104-33 Aruba
Puerto Rico stayed perfect at the tournament and claimed first place in Group A with a 104-33 drubbing of Aruba. The game was over after 10 minutes as Puerto Rico led 29-7 and Aruba shot just 19.3 percent for the game with 37 turnovers. Omar Sanchez paced five Puerto Ricans in double figures with 24 points while Joviel Acevedo had 15 points and Alejandro Noa picked up 11 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals. Kyrian Brooks scored 11 points with 10 rebounds to lead Aruba.
Jamaica 67-103 Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic locked up a spot in the Semi-Finals as they dominated Jamaica 103-67 to take second place in Group B. The Dominicans pulled away in the second quarter and led 53-40 at halftime and put the game away for good in the third quarter. Luis Diaz had a monster double-double of 27 points and 12 rebounds while Nasir Muhammad flirted with a triple-double as he collected 25 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists for the winners. Junior Galicia also had 13 points and Edwin Daniel tallied 7 points, 20 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals and 5 blocks. Just like Mexico and El Salvador before them, the Dominicans could not slow down London Johnson. The Jamaican star poured in 37 points - three fewer than he scored in his previous two games - while shooting 10/17 from the field and 16/17 on free throws to go along with 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
El Salvador 44-120 Mexico
Mexico rolled to a 3-0 record and first place in Group B with a 120-44 blowout of El Salvador. The hosts took the first quarter 30-12 and never looked back while forcing 39 turnovers. Seven Mexicans scored in double figures, led by Victor Valdes’ 20 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists while Santiago Camacho scored 17 points and Jorge Dominiguez had 16 points. Juan Ibarra paced El Salvador with 15 points.
Semi-Finals: Puerto Rico vs Dominican Republic; Mexico vs Costa Rica
The first two tickets to the FIBA U18 Americas Championship 2022 will be decided on Saturday with the winners of the two Semi-Finals reaching the continental tournament. The first Semi will be a real battle as Puerto Rico face Dominican Republic - a matchup of the winners of six of the seven previous U17 Centrobaskets (Puerto Rico 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015; Dominicans 2013, 2017). The 2019 winners Mexico will finish off the day with a showdown against Costa Rica, who will try to surprise the hosts. The main storyline in the Classification 5-8 is how many points will London Johnson of Jamaica score against Aruba.
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