Basketball: Canadian men dominate Brazil to earn spot in FIBA World Cup

Canada has returned to the global men’s basketball stage in emphatic fashion.

A selfless group of unheralded players culled from major and minor European leagues and Canada’s university program, — thrown together for just one weekend — hammered Brazil 94-67 in Sao Paulo on Monday night to earn a berth in the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

The Canadian men have only played in one significant world- wide tournament since 2002 — an 0-5 run at the 2010 worlds in Turkey — and have not been to an Olympic Games since Sydney in 2000.

But through a convoluted and long qualification process that forced Canada to dress 35 different players over 10 games with three different head coaches, the team stands at 8-2 in its qualification pool and doesn’t have to worry about two final games coming in February in St. John’s.

The depth of Canada’s pro- gram and willingness of players to play when asked was never more evident than on Monday night. Kyle Wiltjer, whose father Greg was a national team mainstay two decades ago, was playing in just his second qualification game with this group and led Canada with 25 points.

Phil Scrubb, who left his club team in Russia to travel to South America for just two games, added 15 while his brother Tommy — like Phil, a product of the mighty Carleton program in the Canadian university system — had 14 points.

Canada’s domination was nothing short of stunning. It is incredibly hard to beat Brazil in Brazil, and the hosts were led by a handful of grizzled international veterans along with former NBAers Leandro Barbosa and Anderson Varejao. But after foul-filled start that saw them trail 20-18 after a quarter, Canada took control.

A dominant stretch of the second quarter gave Canada a 45-34 lead at halftime, and they put the game away with a 31-18 third-quarter run.

Canada will play in Newfoundland in February against Chile and Venezuela and those games will matter when it comes to World Cup seeding. But having a berth already sewn up will give Canada Basketball officials a huge boost in fundraising over the winter, to help come up with a solid plan for the 32-team world championship in China.