LAS VEGAS—The United States turned up the defense and turned away Canada.
The Americans held the Canadians to just two field goals in a dominant second quarter, pulling away for a 113-63 victory Saturday to remain unbeaten in the Fiba Americas tournament.
Also Saturday, Leandro Barbosa increased his tournament-leading scoring average with 36 points and Brazil hung on for a 93-89 victory over the US Virgin Islands, Uruguay clung on in frantic final seconds to beat Puerto Rico 82-79, and Argentina downed Mexico 104-83.
Carmelo Anthony scored 25 points, but the US couldn’t shake Canada until it tightened its defense after a competitive first quarter.
Brazil’s win sets up Sunday’s meeting of unbeatens as Brazil (3-0) faces the US (3-0) on the final day of the first round. The winner will be the top seed from the five-team group heading into the four-game second round. The top two finishers in the 10-team tournament earn berths in the Beijing Olympics.
Putting up
The Americans reached 100 points less than 2 1-2 minutes into the fourth quarter and are averaging 116 in the tournament—not far off the record 121.2 the Dream Team put up in 1992.
Olumuyiwa Famutimi scored 17 points for Canada (2-2), who were playing for the fourth straight day and were overwhelmed by the deeper Americans, who had Friday off.
The US Virgin Islands (0-3) team was setting up the biggest upset of the tournament when it took a 45-33 lead over Brazil in the second quarter, and was still ahead 48-41 at halftime.
Dominance
Brazil finally found its shooting touch and starting playing defense in a dominant third quarter in which it outscored the Virgin Islands 31-15.
Brazil increased the lead to 15 points in the last quarter before its opponent had one final rally.
Esteban Batista had 34 points and 15 rebounds in Uruguay’s narrow victory over Puerto Rico.
Uruguay (2-1) rallied behind its big man to overcome a 48-29 halftime deficit, taking the lead for good on Batista’s second straight rebound basket that made it 78-76 with 1:02 left.
Three of four free throws over the next 50 seconds gave Uruguay an 81-76 lead, before Larry Ayuso hit a 3-pointer with 7.3 seconds left to bring Puerto Rico (1-3) within two.
Nicolas Mazzarino made one of two free throws with 5.8 seconds left to give Uruguay an 82-79 lead and set up the frantic finish.
Uruguay decided to foul before Puerto Rico had a chance to get off a possible game-tying 3-pointer. Mazzarino fouled Jose Juan Barea near midcourt with 2.6 seconds left and Puerto Rico was screaming he was in the act of shooting. NBA referee Eddie F. Rush stood by his call that Barea was not in the act. (AP)
