CanadaB次元官网网址檚 menB次元官网网址檚 basketball team finally has a World Cup victory B次元官网网址� and some positive momentum in a FIBA World Cup tournament that had been a non-stop narrative of disappointment.
Cory Joseph will take it.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 always good when thereB次元官网网址檚 a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, thatB次元官网网址檚 always good,B次元官网网址� the Sacramento Kings guard said.
Two nights after a heartbroken Joseph looked like he wanted to hop the next plane home, he poured in 24 points B次元官网网址� 11 of them in the third quarter B次元官网网址� to lift Canada to an 82-60 victory over Senegal for the CanadiansB次元官网网址� first World Cup victory in 17 years.
Kevin Pangos chipped in with 13 points, Melvin Ejim had 11, and Khem Birch hauled down 10 rebounds to go with six points for the Canadians who trailed by as many as 13 points early but turned the game around with a dominant third quarter.
No. 23 Canada hadnB次元官网网址檛 won a World Cup game since they beat Venezuela to finish 13th at the 2002 World Cup in Indianapolis. They went a woeful 0-5 in Turkey in 2010.
B次元官网网址淲e leave here with some confidence off a win, and got a couple of games to play, and we gotta go play them,B次元官网网址� coach Nick Nurse said.
The Canadians, who finished third (1-2) in Group H, now fly to Shanghai for two important classification games they hope will earn them an invitation to one of the second-chance Olympic qualifying tournaments next June.
B次元官网网址淥bviously (ThursdayB次元官网网址檚 win) keeps our Olympic qualifying tournament opportunities alive, and I think it just infuses us with a little bit of positive energy around,B次元官网网址� said Ejim, whose son Miles was born on Sunday, hours before the team played Australia in their tournament opener.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e obviously been down those last two games, but every time you get a win and you realize that itB次元官网网址檚 not that bad, we have goals in front of us that are still attainable, I think tends to change the direction we were going in. This (win) is going to be big for us going into these next two games.B次元官网网址�
It had not been the FIBA World Cup that Canada would have drawn up. A killer preliminary-round group labelled the B次元官网网址淕roup of Death.B次元官网网址� Numerous NBA no-shows. The Canadians already had their work cut out for them before they touched down in China. Needing to beat at least one of 11th-ranked Australia or No. 7 Lithuania to advance, they lost both games B次元官网网址� 108-92 to the Aussies and 92-69 to Lithuania B次元官网网址� killing their hopes of earning one of the seven automatic Olympic berths up for grabs.
The Canadians play Jordan on Saturday and Germany on Monday and a pair of victories should earn them a spot in one of the last-chance events.
B次元官网网址淒efinitely,B次元官网网址� Birch said. B次元官网网址漈hose next two games are really important. We needed a win B次元官网网址� a win like this gives us more confidence.B次元官网网址�
Mouhammad Faye had 14 points to lead 33rd-ranked Senegal (0-3).
Canada got off to a sluggish start Thursday against a long and athletic Senegal team, and a three-pointer by Xane Dalmeida gave Senegal a 13-lead late in the first quarter. Canada trailed 22-11 to start the second.
B次元官网网址淲e got a lot of good looks, we didnB次元官网网址檛 make a lot, but the best thing that we did in that first quarter is we kept rebounding and we kept limiting them and their opportunities,B次元官网网址� Ejim said. B次元官网网址淪o when we went on our run, we werenB次元官网网址檛 in so much of a hole because we had limited them to one-shot opportunities, so as long as we continue to do thatB次元官网网址� we play our style, weB次元官网网址檒l always have a chance no matter what the score is.B次元官网网址�
Canada found its form in the second. Consecutive three-pointers by Brady Heslip and Kevin Pangos capped a 22-4 second-quarter run to give Canada its first lead. Joseph scored on pullup jumper to stretch the CanadiansB次元官网网址� lead to five points, and they went into the halftime break up 33-32.
A Pangos three put Canada up by 10 with 3:11 to play in the third. The FC Barcelona point guard connected on another shot from deep with 53 seconds left in the quarter, and Canada cruised into the fourth at Dongguan Basketball Center up 59-46.
B次元官网网址淲e came out in the third quarter and we just picked up our energy, picked up our aggressiveness, we were able to get a couple more stops, stopped them from crashing the boards a little bit,B次元官网网址� Joseph said. B次元官网网址滱nd in terms of my 11 points, my teammates did a good job, I was able to get a couple to go, and they did a good job of setting screens, and finding me when I got a little bit hot.B次元官网网址�
The Canadians, who were too passive on the boards in their first two games, outrebounded Senegal 47-35.
B次元官网网址淭here was an emphasis for us just to crash the boards, starting with me and the bigsB次元官网网址� I think we did a good job today. We hit them early and got some rebounds and I think they kind of stopped going (to the boards) late in the game,B次元官网网址� Ejim said.
In the late game, Australia beat Lithuania 87-82 to lock up first place in Group H.
Despite losing to both teams, Nurse said there were takeaways from those games.
B次元官网网址淚 think we got a really good look at obviously two of the best teams in the world, right?B次元官网网址� said the coach. B次元官网网址漎ou get a chance to see what they look like, and go out there and grind it out with them and bang against them and then you just keep playing, right? I thought we had some great stretches in both the Australia and Lithuania games, and just had too many really bad stretches.B次元官网网址�
The results of other World Cup groups says plenty about how tough CanadaB次元官网网址檚 preliminary-round opponents were. Canada swept Brazil, and beat Venezuela and the Dominican Republic in World Cup qualifying. Those three countries advanced out of their World Cup groups against teams way down in the world rankings.
Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press
Like us on and follow us on .
