Tuesday 17 July 2007

Canada Handles Korea; Needs win over Argentina tomorrow to advance

6'6" Kai Williams (Regina, SK) keyed a game-deciding 13-1 run midway through the 3rd quarter with a dunk and an "and 1", part of his game high efforts of 27 points and 12 rebounds, as Canada kept their quarter-final hopes alive with a solid 99-83 victory over the three-point happy Koreans. Williams, who had 23 of his 27 points after halftime, continually got free inside and on the offensive glass to energize Canada after Korea had extended a 3 point lead to 9 at 57-48 with 3 minutes gone in the third quarter. Canada then outscored the Koreans 51-26 the rest of the way with Williams, 6'2" Devoe Joseph (16 points/7 rebounds/3 assists) and bigs 6'11" Max Zuyderhoff-Craig (9 points/6 rebounds) and 6'9" Maurice Walker (9 points/3 rebounds) providing support. Canada outrebounded the Koreans 56-37 including 25 offensive rebounds and shot 52.6% from the field. The Koreans let it fly from beyond the 3 point line, going 13-42 from downtown.

Canada jumped out to an early 17-8 as Walker scored 4 straight points inside on a tip-in and layup and later 6'5" Alwayne Bigby had 4 consecutive points with the Canadians dominating inside and it appeared the route was on. However Korea went on a 7-0 run of their own and the teams basically traded baskets until a late 3 gave the Koreans a 45-42 halftime lead. Korea then began the second half on an 8-3 run but then Williams led the game-turning sequence with a dunk and a layup. Still, Canada led only 70-67 after 3 when a late Korea three got them back. But Canada scored the first 5 points of the fourth quarter and 6'7" Boris Bakovic (8 points, 7 rebounds) slammed home a feed from 6'1" Corey Joseph (8 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) to cap another 13-2 run to give Canada a 14 point lead with 3 minutes remaining.

Canada now needs some help just to get themselves into a do-or-die situation tomorrow against Argentina. Canada needs an Australia victory later today over Argentina and then must knock off the Argentinians themselves to qualify for the quarter-final round. One other scenario in which Canada would qualify would be to defeat Argentina and then hope that Turkey loses to Spain today and then Korea tomorrow. If both Turkey and Argentina win later today, Canada would be eliminated from contention for a spot in the quarter-finals and be relegated to play for positions 9 through 12.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

WAY TO GO KAI !!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Go for it supa fly Kai!