MEN'S NATIONAL TEAM IMPROVES TO 2-1 WITH 82-62 WIN OVER VENEZUELA

MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM IMPROVES TO 2-1 WITH 82-62 WIN OVER VENEZUELA

Preliminary play finishes with tomorrow’s game against Puerto Rico

(MEXICO CITY, MEXICO) – The Men’s National Team beat Venezuela 82-62 to improve to 2-1 at the 2015 FIBA Americas Men’s Championships.

“When we can stop teams like that, we hope to just keep running and pushing the ball up the floor,” said Head Coach Jay Triano. “We have a target, people think we’re one of the better teams here and if we play well we could be.”

Nik Stauskas led Team Canada in scoring with 16 points, including four three-pointers. Kelly Olynyk made an impact on all areas of the game, scoring 14 points with eight rebounds and six assists. Team Canada won the rebounding battle 52-33 and held Venezuela to 31% shooting. Dwight Lewis led Venezuela with 17 points. For full box score, click here.

Canada started the first quarter with an emphasis on getting the rim. Led by Cory Joseph, the Men’s National Team attacked from the perimeter and met little resistance, dominating the paint. Canada’s defence was solid, holding Venezuela to 30% shooting. After one quarter, Canada led 25-15.

The athleticism of this Canadian squad gave Venezuela trouble. The South American side had five fouls only five minutes into the quarter and it led to Canada expanding their lead. Although Venezuela found some open threes, the Men’s National Team forced turnovers and contested shots with air-tight defence. Steals and rebounding gave way to transition offence, resulting in lay-ups and dunks for Team Canada. After 20 minutes of action, Canada led 47-28.

Joseph started the quarter with speed, going coast-to-coast early for a lay-up. But Venezuela would make a run in the third quarter, finding lanes to the rim and making contested shots. Canada’s offence would minimize the run and their lead would shrink to 16. With 10 minutes left, Team Canada led 64-48.

Venezuela would continue to fight in the fourth quarter, but Canada buckled down. Playing their third game in three nights, Team Canada used ball movement to break down the defence and find easy buckets. Andrew Wiggins dished a pass to Anthony Bennett for an alley-oop and Canada would not look back.

“I was trying to be aggressive, getting to paint and making decisions. I was able to find Kelly a lot early and couple of times to [Anthony Bennett]. I think we did better today, especially on the defensive end. I thought our defence started a lot for our offence,” said Cory Joseph.

The next game for Team Canada is September 4 against Puerto Rico. Coverage starts on TSN at 7:00 pm EST.

For full FIBA Americas roster, click here.

For more information about the FIBA Americas Men’s Championship, click here.