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Canada's Jr. National team pulled away in the second half for a resounding 82-60 victory over Nigeria on Day One of the FIBA World U19 basketball championships in Serbia as 6'1" Devoe Joseph went off for 33 points including 6-10 from beyond the arc. With the score tied at half time, Canada went small and wore out the bigger, taller Nigerians with a strong second half surge defensively creating turnovers and offensively making the majority of their open shots in transition and off their set offense. With 6'8" co-captain Scott Brittain limited to 15 minutes because of foul trouble, 6'7" Boris Bakovic came off the bench with 15 points on 6-7 shooting while another tall wing, 6'6" Jon House also added 15 on 3-8 shooting from 3. As a team, Canada shot a blistering 12-26 from beyond the arc for the game and did a great job defensively holding the Nigerians to only 24% shooting from the floor. Nigeria stayed in the game on the offensive glass, grabbing 24 "o" boards but in the end, Canada's great team "d" which created 21 Nigerian turnovers, solid outside shooting and a superior performance from Devoe Joseph allowed Canada to rule the day. Canada now faces Turkey in their second game of the preliminary round tomorrow with the game beginning at noon eastern time. 6'7" Emmanuel Negedu, headed to Arizona in the fall, led the way for the Africans with 16 points and 14 rebounds, while Ibrahim Adamu Yusuf contributed 11 points in the losing cause. 7'1" Solomon Alabi, headed to Florida State was held to 6 points and 7 rebounds on 2-10 shooting. Canada off to winning start as well as the Complete Box Score

In other first round games, France edged Lithuania 85-82 in Group A action in a rematch of the Gold medal game from last summer's Euro qualifier; Brazil handled Lebanon 83-67 in another Group A game while in Group D action Spain edged Puerto Rico 91-89.

Congratulations to Canada which is already in a good spot to advance to the next round.