Mexico beat Russia and qualified for the semifinals of the basketball pre-Olympic

EFE / EPA / GEORGIA PANAGOPOULOU / Archive
EFE / EPA / GEORGIA PANAGOPOULOU / Archive

The Mexican basketball team beat Russia (72-64) with a good reaction in the third quarter (partial 19-7) to obtain his first victory and qualify for the semifinals of the pre-Olympic tournament to Tokyo 2020 that is disputed in Split (Croatia).

The set led by Omar quintero bounced back from the first day’s defeat to Germany (82-76) with a great performance from the Turkish Afyon Belediyesi guard Paco Cruz (21 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists), the center of the Astros de Jalisco and former Real Madrid Gustavo Ayon (11 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists) and the point guard Paul stoll, from the Israeli Hapoel SP Tel Aviv (11 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists) to qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament.

Mexico took the initiative in the first quarter, but the Russian reaction came to put it with a ten advantage in the middle of the second quarter (22-32, min. 15), a difference that the European team retained until the lights in the third, when he was almost six minutes without scoring, from 37-41 in the 23rd minute to 50-41 in the 29th, with a masterful Stoll in steals (5 throughout the game) and assists (3) for the reaction Aztec.

Photo: Twitter @clubsoles
Photo: Twitter @clubsoles

The Latin American team was able to capitalize on the 50-43 with which they started the last quarter to win a duel in which they took advantage of the offensive rebound (18 sacks in the rival ring for 9 of the Russian team), and of the free throws (he hit 11 of 12, 92%) despite an unfortunate afternoon in the three-point shooting (he tried 33 and only scored 7, a poor 21% effectiveness).

The result classifies Mexico to the semifinals of the tournament by being the leader of Group A with 3 points, with Germany with 2 and Russia with 1, both with one game less and that they will face tomorrow for the other place in the semifinals.

In the other group of the pre-Olympic of Split, the B, this Wednesday Brazil and Croatia are measured. The Brazilian team, which beat Tunisia (57-83) yesterday, could also secure a place in the semifinals if it beats the Croatian team.

Data sheet:

72 – Mexico (18 + 13 + 19 + 22): Stoll (11), Cruz (21), Jaimes (4), Girón (7), Ayón (11) -the starting quintet-, Amigo (4), Estrada (2), Méndez (5) and Ramos (7).

64 – Russia (16 + 20 + 7 + 21): Baburin (5), Strebkov (2), Astapkovich (2), Vorontsevich (11), Mozgov (2) -initial quintet-, Kardanakhishvili (6), Ivlev (6), Ukhov (7), Antonov (13), Kulagin (7) and Komolov (3).

Referees: Jorge Vázquez (PUR), Eddie Viator (FRA) and Rabah Noujaim (LIB). Without eliminated.

Incidents: match of the second day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualifying tournament, played in the Spaladium Arena in Split (Croatia).

With information from EFE

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