Day Five at the World Championships
Algeria and France played out a close first half before France pulled away to record their first victory of the Championships. The two sides cancelled each other out and there was nothing to separate them at half time with the scores 28 points each. The half time team talks seemed to work best for the French however as a five minute spell in the third quarter saw them open up a 15 point lead as Algeria’s spirited resistance fell away. Samir Laadjadjat endured mixed fortunes as he scored a useful 13 points but also fouled out while Billel Ayache performed well again with 18 points. For France, Roger Deda performed well scoring 20 points as he helped his side to an eventual 69 – 47 victory.
Australia’s men comfortably won their match against Mexico as their strong defence and dominant offence proved to be too much for Mexico. A first quarter lead of 26 – 10 was easily extended to an impressive 50 – 25 as Australia all but ended the match at half time. Justin Eveson recorded 21 points and Tristan Knowles scored 17 as Australia won their fourth game. Raul Ortega scored 10 points for Mexico who have won just once so far in the tournament.
Turkey can count themselves unlucky as they gave world champions Canada a tough game in this men’s pool B match. Canada laboured in the first half but still managed to stay within touching distance of Turkey managing to turn a three point deficit at the end of the first quarter into 31 – 31 at half time. In the third quarter Canada stepped up their performance and effectively won the game in this 10 minute spell restricting Turkey to just eight points whilst scoring 23. At the end of the quarter the Canadians led by 54 to 39. The fourth quarter saw Canada take their foot off the gas and let Turkey back into it but Canada held on to win 69 – 60. Adam Lancia starred for Canada with 21 points and Ozgur Gurbalak continued his good form with another 17 points.
USA dominated this match from start to finish against Japan as they built up a commanding lead in the first quarter and took every opportunity to extend it throughout the match. Joseph Chambers and Matthew Scott led the points scoring for USA and Reo Fujimoto put in another good performance with 17 points. The half time score of 41 – 21 was almost doubled at full time as the match ended 89 – 46. The USA have won all their games so far while Japan have lost three and won one.
The pool A match between Italy and South Korea saw the two teams currently filling the bottom positions of the table facing each other with Italy winning one and losing two and Korea not yet to win in the opening three games. The game started with Pellegrini winning the jump ball for Italy going straight on the offence with Dong-Hyeon Kim committing the first foul in the opening 10 seconds for Machionni to convert both free throws and get the first points on the board. Italy went on to build a commanding lead and finished the quarter ahead 19-10.
Opening of the second started with Italy aiming to keep the strong offence with a great steal from Cavagnini although he missed the shot to extend the lead. Dong-Hyeon Kim for Korea was the main threat for South Korea although with four fouls it left him treading a tightrope with still half the game to go.
The second half started with two quick baskets for Italy. Leading scorer Ho-Yong Kim for Korea with 7 points received his fifth foul of the game and took the role of spectator for the remaining stages. Italy extended the lead slightly with consistent shooting and a went into the final quarter with a 27 point gap.
Korea started the final quarter much better with good defence limiting Italy's scoring. Korea's offence improved and a great long range 2 pointer for leading Korean scorer Cho added to his total. Although Korea edged the scoring for this quarter Italy's strength and another fifth foul this time for Dong-Hyeon Kim meant that overall they deserved there second win of the tournament, 73-51.
Japan’s women came close to winning their second match of the Championships but couldn’t overcome Germany in a close match. Germany led throughout but couldn’t get clear of Japan who kept within touching distance throughout the match. The narrowest of margins saw Germany leading 27 – 26 at half time but it was slightly more comfortable at the final buzzer as the Germans won 59 – 52. Marina Mohnen again scored well for Germany but Japan’s Mari Amimoto top scored overall with 17 points.
Brazil couldn’t register their first win of the Championships as they lost to China in this women’s pool B match. Chao Yang was the stand out player with 24 points for China as her team enjoyed a comfortable lead throughout the match. A 32 – 17 lead became 61 – 41 at full time as the two bottom sides in the group hoped to be the final team to progress to the next stage. The result leaves Brazil out as they have played all their games with China playing Japan on Monday and will progress to the next stage.
Great Britain Men continued their unbeaten run with a hard fought win against World Championship newcomers Poland. GB made tough work of the game after taking a healthy lead in the first quarter with Simon Munn adding 10 points of GB’S 20 giving them an 11 point advantage going into the second quarter.
However, in the second quarter the tables were turned as Great Britain‘s defence became complacent and from help of their Player Coach, Piotr Luszynski, Poland made a strong comeback winning the quarter 23 – 13.
After a half time diatribe from Head Coach Murray Treseder, Great Britain came out with an extra urgency. Poland continued to hang on to the coat tails of Great Britain with Mateusz Filipski shooting three 3 pointers. Captain Jon Pollock made sure his team had some breathing space finishing the third quarter, by scoring his only 3 pointer of the match followed shortly by an extra basket.
With the cushion now established GB began to draw away in the final quarter, with a 3 point play from Ian Sagar making the deficit 8 points. Poland were then weakened as Jan Cryul was fouled out the game and the experience of the British team told as the finished the match with a flattering score of 59 -75.
Another turn up for the books in Pool A of the Women’s Championships as The Netherlands, who lost to Mexico yesterday (Saturday 10th July), defeated Australia 57 – 44 in a convincing display. The Netherlands were led by a strong scoring performance from both Inge Huitzing and Carina Versloot who notched up 23 and 24 points respectively. Australia’s lead scorer Cobi Crispin scored 20 points but the team from down under could not turn the score around as the Dutch team led from the start. The win means that The Netherlands definitely book their place in the Quarter Finals along with Australia and Canada whilst Mexico and Great Britain women will fight it out in their match tomorrow (Monday 12th July) for the final spot.
Mexico and Canada’s women started with Mexico winning the jump ball although it was Canada who opened the scoring. Canada seemed to have the height advantage with the rebounds easily collected by McLachlan ready for Canada to go straight onto the attack. Within the last 30 seconds McLachlan was fouled for Canada and converted both free throws followed by a open play basket to give a 7 point lead to Canada after the first quarter.
The second quarter started in the same vein with Canada adding another 4 points to the board although Mexico responded with 4 points of their own. Canada then started to play well with passing and assists coming from Ouellet who was in impressive form. With a good lead on the board Canada made five changes making full use of the bench who continued the good work giving the world champions a 14 point advantage going into half time at 25-39.
The second half started a little slower with both teams missing their opportunities until some good combination play between Ouellet and McLachlan for Canada allowed them to add to the total. Estrada for Mexico was one of there main threats due to her height advantage. The closest quarter so far ended with both teams scoring 12 points and Canada's lead margin staying the same.
The final quarter started well for both teams with Mexico pushing for the extra baskets needed although this left opportunities for Canada to catch them on the break which they took full advantage of. In the latter stages of the game Canada dominated play with a great layup from Harnock to add to her total. A great 3 pointer from Vaizquez, the leading scorer for Mexico, in the last minute proved to not to be enough with Canada scoring 11 points more with an impressive 44 - 69 win to add to their previous two wins so far.
.jpg)
