The Canadian team beat Colombia 62-61 on Monday with a basket scored at the last second, and secured their qualification for the quarter-finals of the Copa América men’s basketball, which will take place until next Sunday in the Brazilian city of Recife.

The next round is complicated

The victory guaranteed Canada, with 5 points, a place in the quarter-finals of the 19th edition of the Copa América as one of the top two in Group A, but they still have to wait for the game in which Brazil (4 points ) It will be measured today with Uruguay (2 points) to know if it will advance as the leader of the key or as the second.

Colombia (4 points) now depends on the other side to know if they finish third in Group Awhich gives him the hope of reaching the quarter-finals as one of the two best third.

The basket that Canadian Trae Bell-Haynes scored in the last second of the game from a free kick meant a bucket of water for the Coffee Farmers, who by the end of the third quarter were leading 54-42 and looked set to celebrate victory. .

Despite losing the first quarter 21-16, Colombia prevailed in the next two (22-9 and 16-12), but were completely demolished in the last, in which they fell with a advantage of thirteen points (20-7).

Those led by Guillermo Moreno made several errors in the last quarter and suffered with several three-point baskets scored by the Canadians..

Bell-Haynes, a player for Montenegro’s KK Buducnost Podgorica, was decisive with the final score and his 18 points, but it was Dalano Banton, the NBA’s Toronto Raptors point guard, Canada’s and game’s leading scorer, with 20 dots.

Among the South Americans, the best player on the court was Jaime Echenique, a Capital City Go-Go player in the United States G League and the first Colombian to play in an NBA game, with 18 points.

As top scorer, he was escorted by Juan Tello, with 14 points. Canada had lost on their tournament debut to Brazil (72-63) but then recovered and beat Uruguay 84-78, while the Colombians made their debut with a 70-64 win over the Uruguayans but on the second day they lost 100-60 to the Brazilians.

The tournament takes place at the Geraldo Magalhaes Coliseum in the city of Recife, in the northeast of Brazil, and brings together twelve teams. The first two of each group and the two best teams classified third will advance to the next phase of the Copa América, the final of which will be played on Sunday, September 11.

In Group B, Puerto Rico, Argentina, the Dominican Republic and the Virgin Islands are paired, while Group C is made up of the United States, Venezuela, Mexico and Panama.

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