Canada will be advancing to the knockout phase of the 2025 FIBA men’s AmeriCup on the heels of a flawless showing in the group stage.
The senior men’s squad took down Puerto Rico 82-73 on Monday night, concluding group play a perfect 3-0.
Kyshawn George led the charge for the red-and-white as the Swiss-Canadian NBAer finished with 13 of his team-high 17 points in the final 20 minutes. The Washington Wizards guard shot 5-of-10 to go with five rebounds and four assists. Mfiondu Kabengele was right behind with a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds) while going 6-for-6 from the field. Trae Bell-Haynes and Marcus Carr chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively, while Minnesota Timberwolves forward Leonard Miller finished with nine points and nine rebounds.
In a back-and-forth affair that saw 14 lead changes, it was ultimately the Canadians’ defence that grinded out the victory. Puerto Rico was held to just 16 points in the fourth quarter and just two field goals in the final three minutes.
Canada held the Puerto Ricans to 41 per cent shooting from the field for the game and just 22.6 per cent from beyond the arc. Puerto Rico didn’t do itself any favours either, converting from the charity stripe at just a 46.2 per cent clip (6-of-13).
Meanwhile, the Canadians converted on shooting splits of 47.6/40.9/72.2 per cent from the field, distance and free throw line.
On the other side, New Orleans Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado spearheaded Puerto Rico’s effort with a game-high 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting. Gian Clavell scored 19 to go with seven rebounds, while Ismael Romero finished with 12 points on 5-of-6 from the field.
Canada is poised to be the top seed in the knockout phase of the tournament, but it will have to wait and see how the rest of the groups shake out to know definitively.
As a reminder, the top two teams from each of the three round-robin groups, along with the two best third-place teams, will advance to the quarterfinals, which begin on Thursday. The eight quarterfinalists will be seeded Nos. 1 through 8 based on their performance in the group phase.
The Canadians, by virtue of a 3-0 record and plus-93 point differential, currently lead all teams before seeding is finalized. Canada can only finish as low as the No. 2 seed, but that won’t be known for certain until Group A finishes round-robin play on Tuesday. Brazil leads Group A heading into the day at 2-0 (plus-23), but will have to defeat the 1-1 United States by a large margin if it wants to usurp Canada as the top seed.
Canada has never won the AmeriCup since the tournament’s inception in 1980. The best the Canadians have done is a pair of runner-up finishes (1980, 1999) and three third-place showings (1984, 1988 and 2015).
