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Post-game recap: Canada vs. Costa Rica, Nov 15, 2010

Another smooth win for the Canadian U21 today, and the final score ended up being 117-68. Costa Rica has some good players, and 49 point win is a nice result I think.

We started out with a great first half, and were up 65-25 at half time. Things were much more even in the second half, largely due to a 29-27 third quarter (where we only won by 2). Looking at the individual player performances, we had the edge at every position, except for perhaps PG. Our PGs did a good job guarding Gleik Borbón, but he still had 20 points, and our own PGs had...well...4. They did combine for 9 assists and just 1 turnover though. :)

Our SGs and SFs did a good job scoring, and Max Torres led the way with 26 points (on 19 shots). Coming in off the bench at SF, Dupre tried to take over in the fourth quarter, and put up 18 points on 14 shots, despite only playing 17 minutes total in the game. Jaiswal played all 48 minutes for us at C today, and wasn't at his best, but still helped us out with a strong performance. For player of the game honours, though, I'm going to go with Pat Clear yet again. He had an amazing first half, putting up 20 rebounds and 19 points in just 2 quarters of action. His final line included 27 rebounds, 23 points, 3 assists, 3 blocks, and just 1 turnover. That's the third random player of the game nod for Pat Clear this season, giving him the edge over Vidyacharan Jaiswal, who has been honoured twice.

Next week, we will be playing against Peru, who is currently 3-1 in our pool (after losing 93-76 to Chile this week). The following week, we play Chile, and then it will be on to round 2.

Post-game recamp: Canada vs. Peru, November 22, 2010

We ended up with a 74-56 win over Peru tonight, which I think is a great result. We were probably a bit lucky to win by that much, but I was expecting us to win the game, and the large margin of victory is a nice confidence booster going forward.

The game started out in a scary way for us, as we went 0-10 from the field over the first 7 minutes. Our defense was good, though, and Peru had only built up an 8-3 lead. Our strong defense continued, and our offense started to pick it up, as we proceeded to go on an extended 58-19 run for over half the game. This created a 61-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter, which setup some nice blowout conditions. Our backups struggled a bit in the fourth, but kept things under control, as we cruised to a very comfortable win.

The main star peformances tonight came on defense, where everyone was great. On offense, the PGs did a great job not forcing anything, combining for 2-5 shooting, 7 assists, and 2 turnovers. Hightower hit both shots. The SGs and SFs did shoot the ball a lot, and not very well, but made up for it defensively. The best performance from the perimeter probably came from Philip Yates, and I think it ended up being a good decision to let him start at SG instead of Torres today. At C and PF, I was really happy with the overall production. In his U21 debut, Germain Demers did a good job with 12 fourth quarter minutes, scoring 7 points (on 5 shots), while adding 7 rebounds. Glenn Richards was also very good, scoring 15 points (on 12 shots) along with 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. For player of the game, though, Vidyacharan Jaiswal is my pick this week. His 19 points (on 13 shots) and 15 rebounds were huge for us, and he really came on strong in the second and third quarters.

The random player of the game standings are now tied yet again; 3 wins by Jaiswal, and 3 by Clear. It will be interesting to see how things go next week, when we face a tough Chilean team, who should be the strongest opponent yet for the U21 this season.

Last edited by The Mogul at 11/22/2010 8:40:07 PM

Post-game recap: Canada vs. Chile, November 29, 2010

The first round of the Americas Championships has now been completed, and Canada finished on a strong note, with a solid 87-74 win against Chile. This means that we have secured a 6-0 record, 1st place in Pool C, and a ticket to Pool D. The top 2 teams in Pool D will make the playoff round, the 3rd place team will earn a place in the repechage, and 4-6 go straight to the consolation tournament. Of the teams that make the playoff round, the two semi-final game winners will qualify directly to the world championships, and the two sem-final losers will join the 3rd place teams in the second chance qualifiers (repechage).

The game against Chile started out well for us, and Philip Yates went 3-3 as part of a 10-2 start. Before long, our lead had been stretched out to 19-6, and we never looked back. We had the lead up to 48-28 by the half, and 69-47 by the end of the third quarter, before clearing the bench for the 4th.

Looking at the individual perfomances, everyone played good defense, and no single Chilean player really went off for a huge game. On offense, we got some numbers out of Yates and Dupre, but our bigs did most of the scoring. Jaiswal, Clear, Demers, and Richards all put up ratings of either 14.0 or 14.5, all scored 11 to 17 points, all shot very close to 50%, and all contributed to a strong rebounding performance (although Richards only was credited with 5 rebounds individually). It's hard to single anyone out for player of the game honours, but Jaiswal and Clear probably put up the best numbers. I think I'll give them both a co-player of the game nod, which keeps them tied for the lead in the random player of the game standings (3.5 nods each ).

Our schedule for round two gets very difficult in a hurry. We play the United States next week (2nd place pool B), then tournaments hosts Argentina the following week (who were 1st place in pool A). After that, we get Ecuador (3rd B), Paraguay (4th A), and finish up the round with Costa Rica (4th C).

Last edited by The Mogul at 11/30/2010 12:17:58 AM

Hmm, I'm not sure whether to like that we start hard and finish easier or not. Do you think we have enough to take the group?

You mean 'we' as in us right?

You are the enemy in my eyes ;)

As long as he keeps Hightower in good game shape and keeps training him well, he is a friend, for this season at least :)

I wish I had Hightower, but Satchwell ain't too bad either, and don't worry about who I'm cheering for in the USAvCanada matchup. It's Canada all the way this season.:)

Sorry, I knew that lol. Stupid mistake on my part.

Yea Griffin I kind of have hightower :P

I have to say I am pretty excited for the USA game, got harassed a bit on the US forum for saying my star potential guy was gonna make U21. Plus a rematch vs.Rainey at the point, John held him to 2 points in a scrimmage last season.

Hmm, I'm not sure whether to like that we start hard and finish easier or not. Do you think we have enough to take the group?

I t hink it would be better the Other way around or base it on ur enemy