Sunday, August 30, 2009

2009 FIBA Americas - SCOLA Leads Argentina To Over Time Win

A highly determined and spirited display by the Tall Albiceleste in their last group match against the Dominican Republic, ensured that they’ve finished second in their pool with a 89-87 win. This was by far their best performance in the competition against a side packed with NBA talent.

Luis SCOLA was again the top performer with 30 points, 8 rebounds & 5 assists. Paolo QUINTEROS posted 14 points and Pablo PRIGIONI had 11 points with 5 assists, 3 rebounds & a steal.

Argentina raced through to a comfortable lead at the start of the first quarter but only manage a 19-18 lead. Dominicans came back strongly in the second and led by Al HORFORD, They finished off with a 43-37 lead at halftime.

The third quarter was well fought by both teams and with 30.4 seconds Leo GUTIERREZ made an important three pointer to tie it at 59. At the end of the first quarter the Dominicans had a 60-59 lead after a free throw by Francisco GARCIA.

Argentina maintained their composure and the big baskets came, especially from long distance where Andres PELUSSI tied it at 74 with 43.6 seconds left. After a miss by Charlie VILLANUEVA, it could have been a win for Argentina if SCOLA had made his shot inside the paint. Next, it was overtime.

At one point, the Dominicans had an 81-76 lead after a three point play by Al HORFORD, but the Tall Albiceleste responded with a 7-0 run to take an 83-81 lead. In the end clutch free throws from PRIGIONI and Juan Pablo CANTERO ensured that Argentina will go into the quarter-final stage with 2-2 record.

1 comment:

ArgentinaBrasilJuntos said...

Argentina will go into the quarter-final stage with 2-1 record because Venezuela is out of FIBA Americas.
In the next stage Argentina will win a lot of games and "Scola Corporations" will go to Turkey 2010!!