Olynyk leads Canadians past Brazil
But road to the 2019 World Cup is about to get significantly tougher
LAVAL, QUE.— Kelly Olynyk had 20 points and18 rebounds to lift Canada to a 85-77 victory over Brazil to open the second round of World Cup qualifying on Thursday.
Cory Joseph added 16 and 10 assists, while Tristan Thompson grabbed 12 boards. Kevin Pangos had 10 points and eight assists.
Leandro Barbosa, playing like he had barely lost a step at age 35, led Brazil with 18 points.
Canada (6-1) and Venezuela, which improved to 6-1 with an 84-69 win over the U.S. Virgin Islands, share the top spot in Group F, while Brazil dropped to 5-2.
Canada’s road to the 2019 World Cup is about to get significantly tougher. Coach Roy Rana won’t have any NBA players — Olynyk, Thompson, Joseph, Justin Jackson and Khem Birch played Thursday — nor Barcelona FC guard Pangos for the team’s final five World Cup qualifying games. The Canadians make a 19hour trek to Valdivia, Chile, for a sold-out game against the Chileans on Monday, and with NBA training camps just a week away, none of Canada’s NBA players, nor Pangos, who must return to FC Barcelona, are expected to make the trip.
In front of a half-full Place Bell arena on Thursday, the Canadi- ans took a 22-19 lead into the second quarter.
A scary moment late in the first saw Birch scratched in the right eye by a driving Barbosa. Birch was very slow to get up before being helped off the court. He didn’t play the rest of the game.
With the game tied 26-26 in the second, Olynyk scored nine consecutive points, and the Canadians ended the half with a 15-7 run to take a 40-33 advantage into the break.
Canada was up 50-37 before Brazil battled back to pull to within four points late in the third. Baskets from Thompson and Melvin Ejim sent the Canadians into the fourth quarter with 64-56 lead.
Brazil pulled to within seven midway through the final frame, but back-to-back threes by Ejim and Joseph gave Canada a 10-point lead with 2:49 to play.
The Brazilians pulled to within six with two minutes to go, but Pangos replied with a threepointer for the Canadians, and added another long bomb with seven seconds on the clock.
If there was one negative on the night, it was that the 10,000seat Place Bell, which sold out last month when R.J. Barrett and Duke played McGill University in an exhibition game, was at about 50 per cent capacity.
It was dotted with a handful of Brazilian fans, including one wearing a Neymar jersey and waving a huge flag.
The World Cup is Aug. 31 to Sept. 15 in China.