Thursday 20 August 2009

Canadian National Team Update: 1-1 in Puerto Rico thus far

Two CIS alumni, Aaron Doornekamp and Ryan Bell, are on the current roster for Canada as they prepare for their third and final game tonight at the Tuto Marchand Cup in Puerto Rico, the final tuneup for the FIBA Americas qualifying tournament slated to start next week also in Puerto Rico. We have articles and box scores below.


Day Two Score: Canada (1-1) - Argentina (0-2) 86-72 Box Score

Canada managed to grab the first win at the Marchand Continental Championship Cup in San Juan. After loss against the host (Puerto Rico), the Canadians demonstrated much better performance in Game 2 outplaying Argentina 86-72. That is the second defeat for Argentina, who failed against Brazil in Day 1. Levon Kendall (209-F-84, college: Pittsburgh) was the best player in victory as he registered double-double, 14 points and 12 rebounds. Andy Rautins (196-G-86) and Jermaine Anderson (188-G-83, college: Fordham) also helped with 14 points each. For the losing squad, Diego Garcia (186-G-79) top-scored with 13 points. Luis Scola (206-F/C-80) had 12 points and 5 rebounds, while Paolo Quinteros (186-G-79) added 11 points.
Everything started good for Argentina, who created 15-20 lead in the first quarter. However, Canadians drastically improved after that, especially at the offensive end. Levon Kendall and his teammates were one fire scoring 30 more points until the half time. On the other side, Argentina stopped on 17 for minus 8 after 20 minutes. Third quarter was the crucial one as Canada dominated 27-14. For the rest of the way Argentina did not succeed seriously to treat.

Today in San Juan, Canada will meet Brazil. Argentina will take on Puerto Rico.

Canada: Levon Kendall 14+12 boards, Andy Rautins 14, Jermaine Anderson 14
Argentina: Diego Garcia 13, Luis Scola 12+5 boards, Paolo Quinteros 11

Day One Tuto Marchand Cup: Brazil, Puerto Rico win Canadian Team Box Score

The Tuto Marchand Cup commenced yesterday at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot. The tournament features four-nations, Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Puerto Rico, in three straight days of games in prepartion for the FIBA Tournament of Americas.

Argentina lost to Brazil 91-76 led by Leandro Barbosa’s 18 points and 7 rebounds. The Brazilians built upon their lead after each period as Team Argentina couldn’t shoot straight. Outside of Luis Scola’s 10-19 from the field, his Argentinian teammates were a combined 15-56, shooting just 26% for the game.

Tiago Splitter added 14 points 9 rebounds, 3 assists and Marcelo Machado had 11 points 7 rebounds and 6 assists for Brazil. Scola led Argentina with 28 points and six rebounds.

Puerto Rico defeated Canada 59-55 behind Larry Ayuso’s 13 points. The Canadian loss could be attributed on a dismal second quarter in which they scored just four points. After a free throw by Andy Rautins and a three pointer by Tyler Kepkay, Canada wouldn’t score another point in the final 8:20 of the quarter. However, the Canadians “exploded” for 27 points in the third to bring them within five points, 49-44, but another low-scoring quarter in the fourth would keep Puerto Rico on top. Daniel Santiago had 7 points and 10 rebounds, and Filiberto Rivera added 6 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists for Puerto Rico. Carl English was the top scorer for Canada with 14 points. Carlos Arroyo suffered an injury as was limited to just 14 scoreless minutes.
The schedule and rosters for the three-day friendly tournament looks like this:

Aug 18: Argentina vs. Brazil
Aug 18: Puerto Rico vs. Canada
Aug 19: Canada vs. Argentina
Aug 19; Puerto Rico vs. Brazil
Aug 20: Brazil vs. Canada
Aug 20; Puerto Rico vs. Argentina

Argentina: Juan Pablo Cantero and Pablo Prigioni (PG); Paolo Quinteros and Diego Garcнa (SG); Sebastiбn Matнas Sandes and Federico Kammerichs (SF); Luis Scola, Leonardo Gutiйrrez, Leonardo Mainoldi and Andrйs Pelussi (PF); Romбn Gonzбlez and Juan Pedro Gutiйrrez (C).

Brasil: Duda Machado and Marcelo Huertas (PG); Alex Garcia, Diego Pinheiro, Jonathan Tavernari and Leandrinho Barbosa (SG); Guilherme Giovannoni and Marcelinho Machado (SF); Alexandre “Olivinha” and Anderson Varejão (PF); Joгo Paulo Batista and Tiago Splitter (C).

Canada: Jermaine Anderson, Tyler Kepkay and Ryan Bell (PG); Carl English and Andy Rautins (SG); Jermaine Bucknor, Olu Famutimi and Jevohn Shepherd (SF); Aaron Doornekamp, Kyle Landry and Joel Anthony (PF); Jesse Young; Levon Kendall and Phil Martin (C).

Puerto Rico: Carlos Arroyo, Filiberto Rivera, Christian Dalmau and Guillermo Dнaz (PG); Larry Ayuso, Joel Jones and Jesse Pellot-Rosa (SG); A.D. Vassallo and Carmelo Lee (SF); Бngelo Reyes, Ricky Sбnchez and Alex Falcуn (PF); Daniel Santiago (C).

The Marchand Cup is the final preparations before the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship that start August 26, 2009.

Also, from LatinBasketball.com The host of Marchand Continental Championship Cup 2009 had a joyful opening day outsmarting Canada 60-55. As a reminder, at the same event in 2007 Puerto Rico was winless so one thing is for sure - that will not happen this year. It was a very exciting game decided at the very end. The game hero was Larry Ayuso (190-G-77, agency: Global Sports Plaza, college: USC), who was concentrated from the free throw line when it was the most important.
Before that, the first 20 minutes belonged to Puerto Rico 31-17. Canadians had many troubles at the offensive end in these two periods. They made only 4 of 25 from the field. At the same time Canada scored just 1 triple from 11 attempts and all other points came from the free throw line. However, they drastically improved after the breather. Carl English (192-G-81, college: Hawaii) and Jermaine Anderson (188-G-83, college: Fordham) were on fire starting to melt Puerto Rico's lead. Finally, with 3:46 to go in third quarter the score was tied to 41-41. Ten rebounds by Daniel Santiago (216-C-76, agency: Priority Sports, college: N.Mexico), who arrived just a couple of hours before, were decisive in the win against a team who had Joel Anthony (206-C-82, college: UNLV) dominating the paint with 14 rebounds. As it is mentioned above, Puerto Rico was slightly better at the end grabbing 60-55 win. The hosts finished the game with 30%, while Canada had only 27% from the field. Larry Ayuso led Puerto Rico with 13 points.
In Day 2 in San Jose, Puerto Rico will meet Brazil. Canada will take on Argentina.

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