ONWARD AND UPWARD
Andrew Wiggins put up 19 points as Canada wrapped up its FIBA Americas preliminary round with a victory,
MEXICO CITY— Challenge offered, challenge met as the growing process of a young Canadian basketball team continued unabated here Friday night.
At a point where bad teams would wilt and good teams would thrive, Canada blitzed a shell-shocked Puerto Rican side for its third win in a row at the FIBA Americas championship.
Lucky to be down only nine points with about three minutes left in the first half after being out-worked, outhustled and out-played by a wide margin, the Canadians responded to stern words from coach Jay Triano and were off and running.
They ended the half on an 11-0 run, overwhelmed Puerto Rico 35-16 in the third quarter and coasted home to a 112-92 win.
“I think we grew up in that last 2:30 or 3:50 or whatever it was,” Triano said. “And at halftime we challenged our guys . . . ‘This is an important game for us, these games and the record counts moving forward.’
“Our guys are completely aware of that, but every game’s going to be a battle and we have to be the hardestworking team.”
The victory could prove significant as the second round of the tournament begins on Sunday. Canada goes into a series of four games against Mexico, Panama, Dominican Republic and Uruguay with a 2-1 record.
A 1-2 mark would not have killed their chances at winning one of two Olympic berths on the line here but it would have made the task exponentially more difficult.
“We knew we had to get on a steep learning curve if we were to be successful here,” Triano said. “I do like the fact we bounced back after losing that game (the tournament opener against Argentina) and have played fairly well since then.
“We’re OK with where we are right now. We’re just OK right now, we need to be good next week.”
Canada got production from sources both likely and unlikely in the lopsided win. Andrew Wiggins led with 19 points and Kelly Olynyk and Cory Joseph each had 15, but unheralded backup point guard Phil Scrubb made a huge contribution.
With Joseph saddled with three personal fouls, Scrubb started the third quarter and helped ignite the game-changing run. The former Carleton University star has perfectly accepted his role and has been solid all tournament long.
“I feel like Phil did an amazing job,” Joseph said. “He ran the team very well, got everybody in their spots, made his open shots. We’ve got a team we feel like can step up and do those type of things. Somebody that doesn’t play, we feel like the next person is kind of like the next man up mentality.”
The top four teams in the standings after the second round advance to the semifinals, with the semifinal winners earning spots in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
History suggests five wins would assure a team a semifinal berth and four at the very least would put it in a tiebreaker position.
As well, the three teams next in the standings will qualify for one of three six-team tournaments next July to decide the final three Games spots.
Those 18 teams will come from FIBA Americas (3), FIBA Europe (5), Africa (3), Asia (3) and Oceania (1) along with the three host nations, and the winner of each tournament goes to the Olympics.