Mexico, Dominicans roll on U17 Centrobasket Day 1; Jamaica’s London Johnson pours in 40 in loss
Mexico, Dominicans roll on U17 Centrobasket Day 1; Jamaica’s London Johnson pours in 40 in loss
Mexico, Dominicans roll on Day 1 of FIBA U17 Centrobasket Championship 2021; Jamaica’s London Johnson pours in 40 in loss
The Road to the FIBA U18 Americas Championship 2022 has started with Day 1 of the FIBA U17 Centrobasket Championship 2021. We will be posting an update after every day of the tournament, which runs in Mexico until Sunday, December 12.
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Reigning champions and hosts Mexico rolled to an easy victory to start the FIBA U17 Centrobasket Championship 2021 with Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica also opening the tournament with wins. Besides crowning a champion in the Central Americas region, the U17 Centrobasket also serves as the qualifier for the FIBA U18 Americas Championship 2022.
Traditionally the Puerto Ricans and Dominicans have dominated this event - sharing the first six titles (Puerto Rico - 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2015; Dominican Republic 2013 and 2017). But Mexico surprised the field in 2019 with the crown, knocking off the host Puerto Ricans in the Final.
The Mexicans - who were guided by the star trio of Yahir Bonilla, Esteban Roacho and Ivan Bernal - would not have been allowed to play at the FIBA U18 Americas Championship 2020 because the Mexican federation was at the time suspended from international play by FIBA. The suspension has since been conditionally lifted. The U18 Americas event in 2020 was eventually cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 2019 U17 Centrobasket also featured the dramatics of Bahamas shocking the Dominicans 85-83 at the buzzer in the third place game to grab the third spot in the U18 Americas event - which would have been the country’s first appearance on the continental stage at that age class since 2008. The Dominicans had reached the previous three U18 Americas events and the team featured star 2003-born talent Jean Montero, who was hoping to get the country to the FIBA U19 Basketball World CUp 2021.
The format in Mexico this fall has Aruba, Costa Rico, Panama and Puerto Rico in Group A playing round robin games against each other while Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Jamaica and Mexico are in Group B. The top two teams cross A1 vs B2 and B1 vs A2 in the Semi-Finals. The two Semi-Finals winners qualify for the FIBA U18 Americas Championship 2022 as does the third place winner.
The top three teams from the U17 Centrobasket will be joined by three teams from the FIBA South American U17 Championship, which is scheduled for March 21-26, 2022, and join the United States and Canada at the FIBA U18 Americas Championship 2022, which will take place on June 6-12 2022.
Mexico 117-67 Jamaica
Mexico really had little trouble in their Group B opener against Jamaica and coasted to a 117-67 victory. Mexico were leading 24-15 after 10 minutes and the lead just kept growing to 58-29 at halftime. Seven Mexican players scored in double figures with Santiago Camacho leading the way with 16 points. Camacho was not really that efficient though hitting just 7-of-21 shots including 2-of-11 three-pointers while committing 7 turnovers for an efficiency of 3. Victor Valdes had the top efficiency of 22 with 14 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals as one of seven Mexican players with an efficiency of at least 13. The top showing of the day by far belonged to Jamaica’s London Johnson, who poured in 40 points on 10-of-17 shots and 18-of-20 free throws to go with 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals for an efficiency of 42. The 2007-born Marcus McDonald added 15 points in a losing effort.
El Salvador 58-114 Dominican Republic
The other Group B game was also a blowout as Dominican Republic rolled past El Salvador 114-58. The score was 25-12 after 10 minutes and 61-28 at halftime. Yeison Liberato and Nasir Muhammed both scored 16 points and combined for 11 rebounds, 9 assists and 7 steals while Luis Diaz had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds. All told, seven Dominicans scored in double figures. El Salvador’s 2006-born Kaeden Sibrian led the team in scoring with 17 points while Juan Pablo Ibarra had 14 points and 8 rebounds as he played in this competition in 2019.
Panama 70-85 Puerto Rico
The only somewhat close game of Day 1 came in Group A as Puerto Rico used a big second quarter run to grab an 85-70 victory over Panama. Jose Ortiz came off the Puerto Rico bench and scored all 11 of his points with 3 three-pointers in a 19-3 run to close the first half with a 43-30 lead. Panama managed to get within seven points in the second half but could not challenge the rest of the way. Yasiel Rivera flirted with a triple-double, collecting 18 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists while Edir Ortiz scored 16 points in the win. Andres Vergara Orocu paced Panama with 15 points and 2006-born Daniels Martin Machore nearly had a triple-double as well with 10 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals.
Costa Rica 93-41 Aruba
Costa Rica started their quest to return to the FIBA U18 Americas Championship for the first time since the inaugural edition in 1990 with a dominant 93-41 victory over Aruba. Costa Rica outclassed Aruba from the get-go, scoring the first 15 points and leading 26-7 after 10 minutes. Five Costa Rica players scored in double figures, topped by Julian Quiros, who scored 25 points on 23 shots. Mayron Yoel Guerrero Ulloa scored 16 points. Andres Mora, who was on the Costa Rica team at this tournament in 2019, did a bit of everything with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists and 4 steals. Aruba committed 44 turnovers - taking 47 shots and missing all 17 of their three-point attempts. Jean Simeyon Salomond led the team in scoring with 14 points to go with 9 rebounds. Vladimir Robert did pick up 8 points, 15 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Day 2 highlight: Dominicans vs Mexico
Day 2 action continues Thursday with the final game being the biggest highlight as Dominican Republic face Mexico in what will most likely decide Group B. The winner will also most likely avoid having to face Puerto Rico in the Semi-Finals.
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