Canada looks to secure Olympic berth

“That was really incredible of them, we didn’t expect that at all”, said Maurice Ndour, whose 3-pointer late in the fourth brought the Senegalese to within a point, turning the game to a thriller. After getting fouled again, Joseph hit both, but Senegal followed with a layup, Joseph hit 1-of-2 and it came down to the final shot – a forced Senegal three that was well short thanks to some good defence.

“I think it was a great game if you love defense”, Canada coach Howard James Triano told reporters during the postgame news conference.

Australia, Argentina, Brazil, China, Lithuania, Nigeria, Spain, the United States and Venezuela have already qualified for the Rio Olympics men’s basketball tournament next month.

Tristan Thompson contributed seven points and 10 rebounds while Anthony Bennett notched seven points and seven rebounds also for Canada.

Turkey rued its poor offensive showing where it shot only 36% from the field, including 6-of-26 from the three-point area, and missed 15 free throws. Turkey, despite playing under par, managed to keep the game close by coming up with mini-runs to cut the deficit.

The free-throw line played a big factor in the outcome, as Canada was 20-for-24 (83 percent) to just 19-for-34 (56 percent) for the Turks.

This game is the second one for Canada and the first one for Senegal. The other group is composed of New Zealand, Philippines and France.

Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds, and Canada held off Turkey 77-69 in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Tuesday in Manila, Philippines.

The French, ranked fifth in the world, face the Kiwi underdogs on Thursday, with the losers to play Canada in one of Saturday’s semi-finals. Older brother Corey Webster added 23 points.

In Belgrade, Dairis Bertans scored 18 points in Latvia’s 71-59 win over the Czech Republic to earn the Baltic state top spot in Group B. The Czechs will play Japan for the second semifinal berth.

Former NBA center Andray Blatche finished with 30 points and seven rebounds, but the Philippines fell to 0-2 and was eliminated.