The Puerto Rico national team took a solid 80-70 victory over Mexico on Friday in their first match of the final and the third FIBA qualifying round held without an audience at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan.
A great offensive work by Gian Clavell, who led a 7-0 lead in the closing minutes of the fourth period against a threatening Aztec quintet, saw the Puerto Rican side arrive on Saturday with good momentum for the connection with the Bahamas. with which Puerto Rico will try to get its ticket to AmeriCup 2022.
Clavell scored 23 points, 12 of them from three-point shots, while point guards Shabazz Napier and José Juan Barea added 13 and 11 points respectively. The Puerto Ricans made about 17 shots with three earnings.
The Puerto Ricans dominated the first half 22-13, and a three-point basket from rookie Shabazz Napier opened the scoring for the Puerto Ricans. Interestingly enough, Napier also closed the final with a hat-trick.
A donqueo from Clavell condemned the first set and faced a second half that had a somewhat erratic start. Puerto Rico failed to score in four minutes of action and even allowed Mexico to take a lead that brought them closer to 23-25 with a touchdown from veteran Gustavo Ayón. Puerto Rico closed the second half 28-23 and dominated the half with 40-34.
The local population had a third more effective time closure with a score of 55-44. But in the fourth quarter, they were threatened with a reaction led by Ayón and Gabriel Girón who ended up being the best for Mexico with 18 and 17 points each.
For Puerto Rico, Ramón Clemente captured 11 rebounds and added seven runs.
The victory over Mexico didn’t guarantee a pass to the AmeriCup. Puerto Rico has to beat the Bahamas on Saturday to get the ticket.
Ready for Bahamas
The manager of the men’s national basketball team, Eddie Casiano, wants to avoid at all costs the Bahamas becoming a dangerous rival in light of his ambitions for the AmeriCup 2022 tournament.
Casiano knows the Bahamian team can do a lot of damage to both sides of the field, but he’s already clear on what the plan will be to counter this in the second game of the final FIBA qualifying round for the continental tournament.
“We have Scouting in the Bahamas. It’s a great hybrid team. It has many shooters. It has a basis that has caused us a lot of damage. They are athletic. We match them perfectly, ”said the Puerto Rican coach.
Puerto Rico took a second window in Indianapolis last November – coming from behind – against the Bahamas 91-85 thanks to a final push in the fourth quarter.
Bahamian guard D’Shon Taylor was pure poison for the Puerto Rican defense, scoring 25 points, 18 of them from the three-point line.
For this edition, however, Casiano has more points in the hands of José Juan Barea, Shabazz Napier and Gian Clavell.
Although he will face the perennial problem of lack of stature, as center Jorge Brian Díaz and forward Isaiah Piñeiro are not active in front of this window.
“We are quite hybrids and fast. In this edition we have many more points than we had at the time. So we have to control them one on one and keep them isolated and not shoot three alone, ”Casiano analyzed.
“But defensively I think they will have more problems than we do because I have more defensive options to attack them,” he added.
The match starts at 9 p.m. and will be broadcast on WAPA Deportes.