After suffering their third loss in as many days, Canada’s hopes of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Spain have come to an end.
Luis Scola led the way for Argentina as they bested Canada by a final score of 73-67 in Caracas, Venezuela at the FIBA Americas tournament.
In the first quarter the two sides traded punches early with neither able to establish much of a foothold.
Despite watching the Argentines hold Canada’s best scorer, Andrew Nicholson, scoreless over the first quarter, the Red & White emerged with an 18-13 lead.
Cory Joseph led the charge in the first quarter for the Canadians with seven points but the San Antonio Spurs guard was forced to the bench early in the second quarter after picking up his second foul.
Nicholson found his stride in the second quarter as he managed six points while Brady Heslip added a pair of 3-pointers to help Canada keep a 36-32 advantage heading into the break.
Canada came out strong in the third period, as they pushed the lead to 50-41 with 5:45 remaining in the period before Scola took over.
The Indiana Pacers forward scored 10 straight points to help Argentina go on a 20-6 run while Canadian stars Cory Joseph and Andrew Nicholson watched from the bench in foul trouble.
The Canadians lack of depth proved to be their shortcoming once again, as the quarter ended 61-56 in favour of the Argentines.
In the fourth quarter, Canada finally shut Scola down but were unable to find any consistent scoring of their own and the team’s essentially traded baskets the rest of the way.
The Canadians misfired from beyond the arc all night as they only made 3 of 28 shots from behind the three point line.
Scola would finish with 28 points to lead the way for Argentina while Canada’s top scorer was Joseph with 19 points.
Canada finishes with a 3-4 record while Argentina moves to 4-3.
