Puerto Rico defeats the Bahamas and qualifies for the AmeriCup 2022

The Puerto Rican National Team managed to qualify for the AmeriCup 2022 on Saturday after a comeback against the Bahamas and won 102-96 in the third and final qualifying window of FIBA ​​at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum.

The home team finished the windows phase with a 3-3 record to knock out their ticket to the continental tournament in Group D alongside Mexico (2-4) and the United States (6-0). Bahamas (1-5), despite their great effort, was eliminated.

“It was a big win because we qualified. We were lost and we did what we had to do was win the last two games here,” he said. leader Eddie Cassià reacted after the meeting.

Escort Gian Clavell again led the Puerto Rican offensive with 26 points. José Juan Barea also had 26 points with eight assists and seven rebounds, and debutant Shabazz Napier finished with 22.

For the Bahamians, Mychel Thompson, brother of NBA Golden State Warriors member Klay Thompson, was the best with 21 points.

Puerto Rico’s next engagement will be the Olympic Repechage to be played starting June 29 in Belgrade, Serbia.

Overwhelmed by the speed of the Bahamas, Puerto Rico entered the final half down 79-70. Before the start of the period, Cassià tried to cheer the squad with the classification in play. The motivational talk worked and Clavell cooled his blood again and put the team on his shoulders by scoring eight points in the comeback, tying the game at 84 with a triple assisted by Barea} remaining 06: 53 minutes of action.

He had to tell us something, “Barea reacted to Cassian’s message to get the comeback.

“We were in a bad position at the time and we had to be motivated. We made adjustments, played zone and played a smart offense that gave us the win. All credit to the Bahamas who played really well and went be a good game, ”he added.

A technical foul on Bahamian leader Mario Bowleg led Barea to score a free kick for the 89-88 lead and the Boricuas did not look back. They took off with a 7-0 run, with a triple from Napier and a basket from Barea, to ensure the agonizing ranking after taking over the fourth period 32-15.

As Puerto Rico anticipated before the match, the Bahamians came out aggressive from the first serve and hit four triples in 10 attempts to close the scoring in the first minutes of action.

An awkward cross from D’Shon Taylor in penetration against Ramón Clemente attracted the foul for the visitors to win 20-19 with 20 seconds left in the first half. Barea then lowered the ball and felt pressure from Domnick Bridgewater, demanding contact with one of the referees.

Seeing that they did not hear his claim, Barea threw the ball annoyingly behind the bow and hit the shot to sound the chichara for the boricuas go to the front 22-20. heading for the second period. Clavell had six points in the fourth.

Barea, captain of the team, committed a technical foul starting the second half, an offense that led him to the bench to prevent accumulation. His departure allowed Napier to take command of the offensive, scoring 14 points in the first half after debuting in the National Team with 13 units in the win against Mexico.

Bahamas remained on the lookout but triples followed by Napier and Clavell, also with 14 in the first half, took off in Puerto Rico 52-45 with 48 seconds remaining in the second period. A Kentwan Smith bomb allowed the Bahamians to be close to the slate 52-48 at the break.

The Boricua’s aim was effective by scoring eight triples in 14 more attempts to run the track with 15 points in transition plays against three of the island’s rivals.

Bahamas returned lethal from the break and made a 7-0 run to take the lead 55-52. From then on, the two squads went from one to the other exchanging baskets and forwards, forgotten by the defense, with Barea as the protagonist on the local side. Travis Munnings and Jaron Cornish got consecutive baskets and the Bahamas had their longest 71-66 lead with three minutes to play.

Bahamas ended up winning the 31-18 partial to take off dangerously 79-70 heading into the final partial.