Basketball: Canada wins by 20, moves to 2-0 at FIBA Americas

Canada's not only earned two wins at FIBA Americas, but the Road Warriors are earning praise.

The FIBA announcers noted late in Canada's 87-67 win over the U.S. Virgin Islands that the Road Warriors "play the game, not the score." That is the ultimate compliment considering that with four games in four days in a tropical climate, Canada had an excuse if it had eased off the throttle and let the other team get back into the game.

These guys were running the floor even in the final minute of the game. Canada is deep enough that Leo Rautins has essentially been rolling two lines, like a hockey coach (hey, if we use hockey lingo, perhaps more people in Canada will pay attention).

Carleton grad Aaron Doornekamp had seven points in 20 minutes today on 3-of-8 shooting, including a a couple baskets during an 8-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter which put the game well out of reach. Doornekamp is on the second unit with guards Andy Rautins and Tyler Kepkay and forwards Levon Kendall and Kyle Landry. Doornekamp has looked solid through two games.

Canada Basketball and cishoops.ca (see Mark's account of today's game) write-up from the Mexico game and) are go-to sources. Canada plays Uruguay (Saturday, 4 p.m.) and Puerto Rico (Sunday, 9 p.m.) to close out the preliminary round. The Sunday game should be a major measuring stick.
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3 comments:

  1. Great effort, good D. Where is Ryan Bell? He is listed on the box as the 12th man, with 0 minutes played. Obviously these were games that everyone would get in, so is he hurt?

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  2. Watching Canada's first two games on TV, one could not help notice how few fans were in attendance. There were more fans at a Slovakia-Finland junior hockey game at the recent WJHC in Ottawa.

    I thought that bouncy ball had a world-wide following, yet here were teams of the best senior level players these countries have and hardly anyone cared to attend..

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  3. Only two countries would draw decent crowds down there.
    Obviously Puerto Rico is one and the US would be the other, if they were there.
    It would be nice to see a couple of hundred fans wearing the Maple Leaf at these games.
    Our hockey fans always travel well to the tournaments...b-ball fans, apparently, not so much.

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