#FIBAWC - Canada suffer setback on their road to China
Sparks flew when Canada travelled to Parque del Este to face Venezuela in the latest gameday in the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers.
Both teams have been strong so well in qualifying, both only dropping one game so far - but that singular loss would now only stand for one of them.
The teams were tied at the end of the first two quarters, though home team Venezuela had the slight edge in the scoreline. Canada's outside shooting kept the scores close throughout the first half, but when the game resumed Venezuela made the most of their field goal attempts and did well to shut out Canada on the offensive end.
Kyle Wiltjer led all scorers with 21 points, followed by Philip Scrubb and Brady Heslip, who had 16 and 14 points respectively, while Joel Anthony notched up a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds. There was nothing Canada could do to find a way around Venezuela, though, who cruised home to victory by a final score of 84-76. This result means Canada fall to second place in Group F, behind Venezuela.
Elsewhere on the continent, Chile kept their hopes of qualification alive with an emphatic 18-point win over the Virgin Islands, where Sebastian Herrera scored 26 points and Manuel Suarez recorded a double-double of 17 points and 16 rebounds:
A dramatic end to the Uruguay-Puerto Rico matchup saw a Mathias Calfani three-pointer with four seconds to go win the game for the Uruguayans, while the USA suffered an uncharacteristic loss, 80-63, to Argentina at the La Rioja Superdomo.
Among the most notable results outside of the Americas qualifiers, Greece remain the only unbeaten team in qualifying after a 92-84 win over Germany, and Russia won a 77-75 overtime thriller against Finland.
The biggest news of the night, though, was that both France and Australia achieved qualification for the final tournament in China next September - Australia being the first team from the Asia-Pacific qualifiers to reach the tournament.
Canada will get a chance for revenge on Venezuela on February 24th, 2019, but until then their next World Cup qualifying game will be against Brazil in Sao Paulo on December 3rd.
