SAN JUAN (2009 FIBA Americas Championship) - Brazil defeated Argentina 76-67 to open day 3 of the FIBA Americas Championship played at Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The Brazilians already qualified after winning their first three games. Their last game of the first round is on Sunday against Panama.
Leandro Barbosa had 21 points, Anderson Varejao 19 and Marcelo Huertas 18 for Brazil who broke down the Argentinean defense and left them without hope for the second game in a row.
Varejao and Barbosa were a lethal couple for the Argentinean defense as they scored everytime that they tried to make a comeback. Both of them scored the first ten points and Varejao netted a three pointer at the end of the first quarter to leave 21-13.
Argentina came back thanks to Juan Pablo Cantero who scored a three pointer to be down 23-21 with 2:57 in the second quarter after an 8-0 run. Brazil recovered quickly and made an 11-0 run to lead at halftime 37-23.
In the third quarter Argentina had problems with the referees and Brazil took advantage of it to make another run and finish up 60-46 after a three pointer by Guilherme Giovannoni.
Leo Gutierrez scored a three pointer with 3:31 left to give Argentina hope, but Leandro Barbosa scored five straight points to seal the game in their favor.
Luis Scola led Argentina offensively once again with 19 points and the second best scorer was Roman Gonzalez with 8.
Luis Modestti
FIBA Americas
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