Brazil men opened up the day with a resounding win over Uruguay, 92-19, to maintain their undefeated record and set up a show down against the USA for top spot in Group B. A strong defensive performance from the Brazilian’s kept Uruguay down to single digits in each quarter (21-4; 26-9; 22-3; 23-3), allowing them a comfortable victory. Brazil shared the scoring across the roster, with five players in double figures. Daniel Martinez top scored for Uruguay with 7 points.
The USA women bounced back from their defeat against Canada, to win against Argentina, 64-38. The USA reeled off a 26-0 run to start the game, and never looked back as they maintained the gap to the end of the game. Desi Miller hit 18 points, as Linsey Zurbrugg and Zoe Voris both scored double figures with 15 and 11 points respectively. For Argentina, Silvia Linari led the scoring with 12 points and 5 rebounds, with Maria Pallares scoring 10 points and grabbing 4 rebounds.
Brazil confirmed their place in the semi-finals of the women’s competition with a 59-29 win over Colombia. An impressive first half performance from Brazil saw them take a comfortable 25 point lead into the break. The second half was much more even with a 10-10 third quarter followed by Colombia winning the final quarter 16-11, but it wasn’t enough and Brazil finished the group stage with 2 wins and 2 losses. Colombia’s Gladys Gomez top scored with 19 points, whilst Brazil’s Vileide Almeida and Geisiane Maia both contributed 14 points and 10 points respectively.
Back to the men’s competition for the fourth game of the day, as Venezuela put in a defiant effort in the first half of their game with Argentina thanks to some sharp shooting from Reyes, trailing by only 10 points at the end of the half. However, Argentina upped their game in the second half becoming more clinical to extend their lead to 25 points at the end of the third quarter, and winning the game 75-40. Venezuela’s Reyes top scored for them with 11 points, whilst Argentina’s scoring came from across the board, captain Berdun with 13 points alongside Cristian Gomez 11 and Adrian Jesus Perez with 11. Argentina will now battle it out for top spot in Group A against Canada.
Next, hosts Colombia men took on Mexico. It was the Mexicans who came out the blocks the quicker of the two, going on a 12-0 run at the start of game. However, Colombia didn’t let their heads drop and took advantage of a number of turnovers from Mexico to bring the game back to a one point game at half-time, 30-29. It remained close throughout the third as both teams exchanged baskets with Mexico holding a slight three point advantage going into the fourth. As Colombia tried to undo the deficit, fouls proved costly as Mexico finished from the free-throw line to extend their lead and win, 78-56. Mexico’s Salvador Sandoval hit 26 points to lead the scoring, whilst Johan Vargas led Colombia’s scoring with 16 points.
The final game of the day saw Puerto Rico men beat Costa Rica to claim their first victory of the tournament. A dominant first quarter, 22-0, from the Puerto Rican’s gave them a sizeable platform to expand on. Costa Rica struggled to find their shooting touch throughout the game only shooting at 13% from the field, allowing Puerto Rico to secure the victory with remaining quarter scores of 10-5, 20-4, 17-5 giving them the win, 69-14. Puerto Rico had three players in double figures Carlos Martinez top scored with 16 points followed closely by Michael A. Thompkins and Kermit Vazquez with 13 and 12 points respectively.
