A day after taking out former world champion, Argentina, Venezuela was brought down to earth hard by the mighty Brazil ( ) in the second day of the FIBA Americas Championships.
Venezuela (1-1) gave the heavily favorite Brazilian (2-0) all they could handle in a tough first quarter, but the Cariocas’ athleticism and deep proved too much for the undermanned Venezuelans as they took an early 20 point lead and never looked back.
Leandro Barbosa continues to shine. The Phoenix Suns SG scored 15, while Anderson Varejao and Tiago Slipper added 14 and 11 respectively. The duo also grabbed 17 rebounds, 8 of them offensively. Lugo paced Venezuela with 12.
Brazil was leading 17-11 at the 7:30 mark, when Lugo’s mid range jumper, started Venezuela’s 8-1 run to finish the first quarter tie with Brazil at 18.
The game was all tied up at 20 with 5:20 remaining in the second period when Varejao’s layup sparked an 18 unanswered points Carioca rally that gave them a 20 point (44-24) lead at intermission. Barbosa had 13 and Varejao 11. Richard Lugo was the sole bright spot for Venezuela scoring 8 points and taking 6 rebounds.
With Varejao and Splitter in the bench for much of the third period, Brazil kept Venezuela at bay with timely 4 and 5 point spurs that prevented Venezuela to close the gap. The stanza ended with Brazil still holding a 20 point lead, 63-43.
The pattern repeated itself in the final quarter as Brazilian substitute F Guilherme Giovanoni scored 7 points to close out the overachieving Venezuelans.
Brazil will tangle with Argentina in the early game (1:30pm) today while Venezuela will take on Panama at 6:30.
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