Jose Barea (24 Points, 5 Assists) Leads Puerto Rico to Victory Over Canada

PHOTO COURTESY: Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images

FOZ DE IGAZU, BRAZIL– Canada’s Senior National Men’s Team (SMNT) played well but a third-quarter storm from Puerto Rico undid the team’s chances at a victory as Canada lost 74-63 in the second game of the Tuto Marchand Cup on Thursday.

Denham Brown (Toronto, ON) followed up a 16-point performance yesterday against Brazil with a team-high 12-point effort for Canada. Fellow Canadian Carl English (St. John’s NL) also scored in double digits, dropping 11, while Joel Anthony (Montreal, QC) was the game’s high man on the glass, collecting 11 rebounds in the loss.

For Puerto Rico, it was Jose Juan Barea, leading the way, coming up with a game-high 24 points and five assists.

For the most part, the match was very evenly played with both team’s defences hardly giving up anything at all. However, the third quarter was another story entirely as Puerto Rico caught fire, going 10-of-14 in the frame for 31 points.

This offensive explosion proved to be the difference as the fourth quarter played almost exactly like the first half, with both teams unable to get anything going.

The SMNT’s next game will be against the Dominican Republic and it’ll be the last one in the Tuto Marchand Cup and as well as the final tune-up before the team heads to Argentina to compete in the 2011 FIBA Americas Championship for Men.

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. local time (6 p.m. ET) and it will be a match between a pair of teams that will see each other in the group stage of the upcoming FIBA Americas Championship.

To watch the game, please visit www.fibatv.com and check www.basketball.ca for the post-game recap and box score.