SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico. – The Mexican basketball team kept its dream of attending Paris 2024 alive by beating the Ivory Coast team 92-81 and advancing to the semifinals after finishing second in Group A. The match took place on the court of the José Miguel Agrelot “El Choli” Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
🇲🇽 Mexico clinch Semi-Final spot with gutsy win over Côte d’Ivoire! #FIBAOQT
Game Report: pic.twitter.com/kvfkK4Syr8
— FIBA (@FIBA) July 4, 2024
Veteran Paul Stoll had a double-double with 23 points and 11 assists, along with post player Joshua Ibarra, who scored 22 points on 9 of 13 field goal attempts (69%) and 4 of 7 free throws. Both were the spark plugs to beat the Ivorians and advance to the next round of the Pre-Olympic Tournament. Forward Fabian Jaimes was the leader in rebounds for Mexico with 12. For Ivory Coast, Vafessa Forfana was their best player with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
The game started with an African team focused on the front and quickly taking the lead during the first minutes of the first quarter. The Mexican quintet evened out the game with mid-range shots and looking to recover balls. Ibarra was key inside the paint, as was Stoll with shots at the rim.
Gabriel Girón had to leave before the end of the first period and was replaced by Karim López, who made the most of being part of this game.
In the second period, Mexico recovered by having better accuracy from long distance through Moisés Andrassi and Karim López, even taking the lead at times during the game. The Ivorians took advantage of their height and strength to score points, with Nisre Zouzoua having the best accuracy for the Africans. At halftime, Ivory Coast was leading the Mexicans by a score of 46-44.
The third quarter was again for the Ivorians, who took a lead of up to 9 points over the Mexican squad. Soto Diabate and Deon Thompson were the ones who did the most damage to the Mexican defense with long shots and timely rebounds to prevent Omar Quintero’s team from scoring points. However, Stoll returned to the court after a short break and scored 8 straight points for Mexico, including two three-pointers, and together with Ibarra and Lopez, brought the Mexicans within one point at the end of the third period.
A triple by Fabián Jaimes at the start of the last quarter opened the way for Mexico to take the lead and start to control the scoreboard better. Ibarra scored 9 points, Stoll another 6 (two triples) and another triple by Jaimes (6 pts) in this last quarter to seal the Mexican victory and the pass to the semifinals of the Pre-Olympic.
Mexico is awaiting a rival between Puerto Rico and Italy, who are fighting for the lead in Group B. On Friday, July 5, the team will compete for a place in the final at this same venue. The ticket to Paris will be played in the grand final against the winner of the other group, in which Lithuania is waiting for second place in Group B.
2024-07-05 00:03:41
#Mexico #advances #semifinals #Basketball #PreOlympic
