Canada comes on strong
Kelly Olynyk, Dillon Brooks, Melvin Ejim and teenage star R.J. Barrett had 14 points apiece as Canada’s men’s basketball team defeated the Dominican Republic 97-61 in Friday’s FIBA World Cup qualifying game.
Dwight Powell and Cory Joseph chipped in with 11 points respectively, and Olynyk had a team-high nine rebounds in front of a lively crowd at Ricoh Coliseum.
Canada and the Dominican Republic are now tied atop their group at 4-1with each having one game left in the first round.
Playing their first significant international game in Toronto since the 2015 Pan American Games, the Canadians started an impressive group of Barrett, plus NBA players Joseph (Indiana), Brooks (Memphis), Olynyk (Miami), and Powell (Dallas), against a Dominican team that had zero NBAers.
Khem Birch (Orlando) was Canada’s fifth NBA player.
The Canadians had dropped an 88-76 decision in the Dominican Republic in November of 2017, but they had no NBA personnel at their disposal, a dilemma they’re going to face when the second round of qualifying gets under way in September.
The Canadians now travel to Ottawa to host the U.S. Virgin Islands in their first-round finale on Monday at TD Place.
Joseph led the way with six points in a first quarter that saw the lead change hands a couple of times before the Canadians took a 25-21 advantage into the second.
Barrett had seven points in the second quarter, including a hard drive to the hoop with two opponents swatting at him in futility. Barrett drew a foul and brought the crowd to its feet with the athletic play. The Canadians would stretch their advantage to 14 points before taking a 45-33 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Dominican Republic pulled to within eight points on back-to-back threes late in the third and Canada led 65-54 with one quarter to play.
Powell had the lively crowd roaring early in the fourth when Brooks found him with a hard pass, he scored and was fouled while tumbling over backwards. Ejim then drained a three — putting one hand to his ear to encourage the crowd — to make it a 20-point Canadian lead with 7:43 to play, and it was virtually game over.
Canada was missing a handful of NBA players in Andrew Wiggins, Tristan Thompson and Jamal Murray, but boasted a cou- ple of teenage NBA prospects in Barrett and Andrew Nembhard. The 18-year-olds led Florida’s Montverde Academy to an undefeated high school season, and the U.S. high school title.
The two were impressive in their senior team debut in a pair of exhibition wins over China last week.
A handful of stars took in the game, including Thompson, who helped with a halftime ring ceremony for the Canada’s FIBA U19 world champions, Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
The Canadians have already qualified for the second round of qualifying, but the results carry over. The top three teams in each of the four qualifying groups will be split into two new groups of six teams each. Canada will likely play Brazil, Venezuela and Chile in the second round, in home-and-away series. Games are in September, November and February.
The World Cup, which is the qualifying event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is Aug. 31Sept. 31