With a resounding score of 98 – 78 was the victory of the Puerto Rican national men’s basketball team, in the second game of the semifinals of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which concludes this Sunday, and is held at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, José Miguel Agrelot, in San Juan.

An offense led by Tremont Waters, who scored 24 points in 21:35 minutes of play, in addition to four assists, guided the Puerto Rican team to the final match of this event, which awards a ticket and is destined for the champion.

The match began with a lead for the Mexicans who were in front 12-4 with 7:12 left in the first quarter, however, a defensive adjustment by Nelson Colon’s team was able to cut the lead, although they fell behind at the end of the first ten minutes with a score of 20-25 in favor of Mexico.

For the second quarter, everything changed for the locals and left few gaps for the team led by Omar Quinteros to have the confidence that they were able to maintain in the first minutes of the game. This second quarter was in favor of Puerto Rico 27 to 14.

In front of some 12,730 fans who gathered Saturday night at the Choli, it was the victory of the national basketball team, and the one that keeps them alive for Sunday’s game for the ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, an event that Puerto Rico has not reached since Athens 2004.

Jordan Howard came off the bench to score 20 points, while Jose Alvarado had 12, Christopher Ortiz added 11 points and Ismael Romero added 10.

For Mexico, Fabian Jaimes was the leading scorer with 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, dished out four assists and stole three balls, which despite a great night, could not prevent the defeat of his team. Jaimes was joined by Karim Rodríguez with 13 points, Joshua Ibarra had eight points and 11 rebounds and Paul Stoll had nine points and eight assists.

PUERTO RICO’S OPPONENT FOR THE FINAL

The match against Lithuania, which defeated Italy 88 – 64 in the first semifinal held at the Choliseo, has been scheduled for 6:00 p.m. and will seek to return to the Olympic Games after missing the Tokyo 2020 version.

Both teams will go into the final match with unblemished records after going unbeaten in their two preliminary phase matches and winning the semifinal match.

LUXURY PRESENCE FOR PUERTO RICO

In each of the games staged by the Puerto Rican national basketball team, basketball legend and FIBA Hall of Fame member, center José “Piculín” Ortiz, has been present, not only supporting the team, but has also been seen giving instructions to center George Conditt IV on how to play against the big men during the event.

This FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament also counts with the presence of the Olympic bronze medalist in basketball in Munich 1972, Cuban Ruperto Herrera, who is on the island as a guest of the organization, as well as FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis.

HISTORY IS NEAR

One victory separates Puerto Rico from making history for Puerto Rican basketball, which in addition to earning a ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, could have both teams qualify for the first time in the event. The women’s team qualified for this summer’s event during the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Xi’an, China, last February.

_{^{Written by Daniela Sánchez Cienfuegos}}

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