Mexico too much for Dominicans, Puerto Rico roll, London Johnson amazing again at U17 Centrobasket
Mexico too much for Dominicans, Puerto Rico roll, London Johnson amazing again at U17 Centrobasket
Day 2 of the FIBA Centrobasket U17 Championship 2021: Reigning champs Mexico showed their class by beating Dominican Republic handily, Puerto Rico rolled and London Johnson was outstanding again.
Day 2 of the FIBA Centrobasket U17 Championship 2021 saw hosts and reigning champions Mexico flex their muscle against Dominican Republic while Puerto Rico rolled and London Johnson shined again for Jamaica.
Dominican Republic 67-77 Mexico
The day’s top game ended up being not much of a game as reigning champions and hosts Mexico knocked off Dominican Republic 77-67 to improve to 2-0 in Group B. It was tight for about 13 minutes when Mexico started to pull away. The advantage grew to 22 points and the Dominicans fought back to trim the gap to 8 points in the closing minutes. Neither team scored in the final 2 minutes as the Dominicans committed three turnovers, missed four shots and failed to convert two free throws down the stretch. Mexico’s big guns led the way as Santiago Camacho produced a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double and Victor Valdes had 15 points, 7 rebounds, 10 assists, 4 steals and 4 blocks. Jorge Dominguez added 15 points and Josue Ocampo picked up 10 points in the win. Junior Galicia paced the Dominicans with 19 points and Edwin Daniel scored 9 points with 17 rebounds, 2 steals and 7 blocks.
Jamaica 95-78 El Salvador
London Johnson put up another outstanding performance in leading Jamaica to their first win at the tournament, beating El Salvador 95-78 in the other Group B game. After picking up 40 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in the opening loss to Mexico, Johnson had an even bigger game with 40 points again - on 16-of-26 shots (2-of-5 threes) and 6-of-9 free throws - 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 8 steals for an efficiency of 48. The 2007-born Marcus McDonald came up big again as well with 21 points, 6 assists and 5 steals with Romareo Millis chipping in 10 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks. The game was tight for the first 14 minutes with 11 lead changes, Jamaica leading 22-21 after 10 minutes. El Salvador’s final lead was 33-31 before Johnson drained two three-pointers among his 10 points in a 13-4 spurt to gain some daylight 44-37. The Jamaicans were up 48-40 at intermission, and El Salvador did not get closer than seven points the rest of the way. Juan Pablo Ibarra collected 20 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks to lead El Salvador with Cesar Peraza scoring 16 points and the 2006-born duo Gabriel Tobar and Kaeden Sibrian combining for 33 points, 15 rebounds, 11 assists and 4 steals.
Puerto Rico 95-60 Costa Rica
Puerto Rico eased to a 2-0 record atop Group A with a 95-60 victory over Costa Rica, who dropped to 1-1. Puerto Rico were never really challenged as they slowly pulled away already in the first quarter and led 23-12 after 10 minutes and the gap was 44-27 at halftime. Jose Andres Ortiz was top scorer for Puerto Rico with 14 points while Yaniel Rivera collected 11 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists, Joviel Acevedo scored 11 and Alejandro Aviles tallied 10 points. Andres Mora of Costa Rica showed the experience of being in this competition two years ago as he collected 23 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals in playing the full 40 minutes. Mayron Ulloa added 11 points and 7 rebounds.
Aruba 48-108 Panama
Panama grabbed their first victory of the competition in the other Group A encounter, easing past Aruba 108-48. Eight Panama players scored in double figures, led by Hamurabis De Leon with 15 points and 12 rebounds while Jorge Roca added 15 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. Humberto Kentish also had a double-double of 11 points, 12 rebounds and 8 steals. Aruba led a couple of minutes into the game at 9-4 and then Panama unleashed an 18-0 run to take control of the game. They led 33-17 after 10 minutes and gave up just 16 points in the middle two quarters, forcing 52 Aruba turnovers and winning the battle of the glass 74-40, including 38 offensive rebounds. Kyrian Brooks led 0-2 Aruba with 18 points.
Day 3 action: Who reaches the Semi-Finals?
With Puerto Rico expected to beat Aruba and Mexico likely to ease past El Salvador on the final day of group play on Friday, it would seem that the top two spots in the groups are taken. That leaves two winner-takes-all battles for spots in Saturday’s Semi-Finals. In Group A, Costa Rica face Panama in a showdown of 1-1 teams while Group B will see if London Johnson and Jamaica can surprise Dominican Republic in the other match-up of 1-1 teams.
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