MIAMI (United States) – The national teams of Chile, Paraguay, Cuba and Nicaragua reached their respective tickets to the FIBA AmeriCup 2025 Qualifiers, after winning their matches this Saturday and securing the first two places in Groups A and B of the second phase of the Pre-Qualifiers, which are held simultaneously at the Antonio Azurmendi Coliseum, in Valdivia, Chile, and at the Alexis Argüello Sports Center in Managua, Nicaragua.
Chile, Paraguay, Cuba and Nicaragua joined Argentina, the Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the United States, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Venezuela, to complete the 16 countries that, from February 2024, will seek to qualify to the FIBA AmeriCup 2025.
This was what happened in the matches this Saturday in Group A in Valdivia, Chile:
Barbados 48 – 78 Chile
Chile (2-0) got loose to play in the second quarter and with a 29-12 run led to their victory over Barbados (0-2). That distance allowed the australes to go to halftime with the score in their favor 46-26 and then they controlled the rhythm of the game, to the point that they continued to expand their advantage.
In that first half, the hosts scored 24 points in the paint to 10 for the Caribbean team and had 16 assists, a sign of their good level of execution during the stretch.
Intern Nicolás Carvacho, with 20 points and 7 rebounds, was the leader of the Chilean team, which finished the game with 27 assists and 44 points under the basket in total. Felipe Haase and Alejandro Vergara each added 12 points and point guard Ignacio Arroyo stood out with 9 counts, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals.
Kyrone Alexander, with 10 points and 7 rebounds, was the only man in double digits in the Barbados team, which overall just shot 26 percent from the field (18-69).
Ecuador 59 – 66 Paraguay
A double by Rodney Mercado with 24 seconds remaining, allowed Paraguay (2-0) to contain the onslaught of Ecuador (0-2) in the last quarter and come out on top.
The southern team, which after losing 39-26 at the time of the break, picked up intensity in the second half and came within three points (62-59) with two free throws from Johu Castillo, with only 46 seconds remaining. clock. However, on the next possession, Mercado appeared with a tray to give the Guarani oxygen. Then, center Bryan Carabalí lost the ball for Ecuador in the paint, against Adolfo López, and Mercado scored on the other side, only under the basket and sealed the conquest by putting the final 66-59, with just 13 seconds.
Mercado finished as Paraguay’s top scorer with 19 points. Juan Poisson followed with 14 and 13 boards, while López contributed 10. For Ecuador, Castillo posted a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds. Adriano Barreras scored 11 and Carabalí 10 with 8 rebounds.
In Group B, in Managua, Nicaragua, these were the incidents:
Antigua & Barbuda 53 – 97 Cuba
Cuba (2-0) looked very superior and did not have any kind of shocks to defeat Antigua & Barbuda (0-2) extensively. The largest of the Antilles set the pace from defense with 17 steals and on the other side made every mistake pay.
Antigua & Barbuda ended up dribbling 23 balls, a situation that the Cubans took advantage of to dominate the points section after losing 24-2. Also the bench of substitutes was much superior with 43 points for 11 of their opponents.
Five Cuban players scored at least 10 points, again led by center Jasiel Rivero, who had 15 points and 5 rebounds. Yoel Cubilla added 13 with 6 boards, Michael Espinoza had 12, as did Karel Guzmán, who accompanied with 7 assists and 6 rebounds, and Yoanki Mensia also had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 5 touchdown passes.
For the defeated, Alexis Jackson achieved a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds and Cohen Desouza followed with 13 counts.
Virgin Islands 67 – 75 Nicaragua
For the second consecutive day, Jared Ruiz took charge of the Nicaraguan offense (2-0) and with 37 points (6-10 C3), 6 rebounds and 7 assists, he guided the victory, this time over Virgin Islands (0-2 ). The forward, on Friday, had already scored 41 points against Antigua & Barbuda and again rose as the great figure of the day.
In general, it was a good night for those led by Puerto Rican coach David Rosario, who shot 50 percent from the field in front of their fans (27-54) and in defense limited the virginenses to only 33 percent effectiveness in their shots. (26-79).
However, the game was even. In fact, the Virgin Islands led 36-35 at halftime, but Nicaragua in the third quarter, led by Ruiz (11 points and 3 three-pointers), took a 56-50 lead and in the last quarter, maintained a good defense to remain in control of the marker. The game broke up when Ruiz hit a layup, plus an additional free throw, to open the gap to 75-65 with just 2:04 to go.
Kaleb Bernard and Francisco Garth also had a good contribution for the Central Americans with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Center Barthel López supported with 7 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks. For Virgin Islands, Ivan Aska had 19 points, Shaquan Jules 13 and 11 boards and Jahsean Corbett 11 points.
FIBA
2023-06-25 04:40:18
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