Cory Joseph leads Canada to second straight win at FIBA Americas

“Cory was very good”, coach Jay Triano said.

“I think tomorrow, we just got to bring it, bring lots of energy”, said Canada centre Kelly Olynyk.

Real Madrid power forward Gustavo Ayon was the star of the show for the Mexicans, the defending champions, as he helped himself to 27 points and 13 rebounds.

Panama had opened their tournament by seeing off Uruguay but were second best in their second match, especially in the first and last quarters which they lost 26-16 and 19-5 respectively.

Thursday was a significant game in the grand scheme of the tournament, and the fact Joseph played as well as he did had to make everyone connected with the team breath a bit easier. We were excited to play today because of the loss yesterday.

Luis Scola (35 points, 13 rebounds) and the Argentinians dictated the pace, controlled the boards, got more loose balls and, simply, just made more plays. “I think all the coaches were, all the players were”.

That sounds like a veteran who would prefer not to let Argentina’s brilliant worldwide run fade to black, even if Manu Ginobili and many other original members of the club have moved on. “Right now, that’s something point guards have got to do and we trust him to do that”.

The first-quarter play of Wiggins was also encouraging.

Canadian basketball fans had many reasons to be optimistic about their team heading into the FIBA Americas tournament, which offered the team a chance to qualify for the Olympics. He was assertive against a team that had no shot at stopping him, scoring eight of Canada’s first 18 points, all of them on offensive rebounds.

Venezuela had four players manage double digits in points as they overcame Puerto Rico 74-63. Heslip on what went wrong: “I think that everyone came out of the gates a little tentative”.

Jasiel Rivero had a game-high 20 points for Cuba (0-3).

Triano said it was an elbow issue and there was no word on the severity of the injury.