FIBA Americas: Nik Stauskas scores 16 points to lead Canada over Venezuela
Nik Stauskas picked the perfect time to answer his critics.
With some believing the shooting guard wasn't ready to be a starter entering the FIBA Americas men's basketball championship, Stauskas carried the momentum from Wednesday's 15-point effort against lowly Cuba into Thursday's match against a much tougher Venezuelan outfit on Thursday.
The 21-year-old, who was traded by the NBA's Sacramento Kings to Philadelphia in July, scored a team-high 16 points, including 12 on 4-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc, in Canada's 82-62 victory in Mexico City.
It was a big improvement from Wednesday's 101-59 drubbing when Stauskas was 1-for-7 from three-point range.
Stauskas also strugged at the recent Olympic qualifier tune-up tournament in Puerto Rico, where the Canadian averaged 4.5 points per game while shooting 28.6 per cent from both the field and three-point range.
Stauskas scored eight points and six rebounds in 26 minutes of action in his best performance at that tourney compared to 16 points, one rebound and two assists on Thursday.
Canada, which led 47-28 at the half but watched the aggressive Venezuelans close to within 67-56 with six minutes left in the fourth quarter, improved its record to 2-1. The Canadians outrebounded their opponent 52-33 and held Venezuela to 31 per cent shooting from the field.
"When we can stop teams like that, we hope to just keep running and pushing the ball up the floor," Canada's coach Jay Triano said in a statement released by Canada Basketball. "We have a target, people think we're one of the better teams here and if we play well we could be."
Lack of attack
The Canadians, who shot well and had good ball movement in the first half, stopped attacking for much of the final 20 minutes and were content on settling for jump shots. They are looking to finish in the top two in Mexico to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Head coach Jay Triano reminded his charges to be patient and to make shots by their opponent a little tougher midway through the third quarter. Canada went on to record its first lost quarter (20-17) since its first game of the tourney against Argentina, but outscored a game Venezuelan side 18-14 over the final 10 minutes.
The Canadians led 25-15 after the opening quarter, thanks to strong shooting from the field and beyond the arc.
Kelly Olynyk, who scored nine of his 14 points in the first 10 minutes, dropped his first three-pointer in the final minute, his first of the tournament in five attempts, following a missed layup by Venezuela.
Canada's Dwight Powell didn't join his teammates for warmup to start the second half. The Dallas Mavericks power forward was hammered to the floor on a bad foul by a Venezuela player who made no attempt at the ball. There was no update on Powell's condition immediately following the game.
Andrew Wiggins added 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists while Anthony Bennett and Toronto Raptors point guard Cory Joseph chipped in 10 points apiece. Joseph also recorded seven rebounds and five assists.
Playing its third game in as many nights, Canada used solid ball movement to break down the Venezuelans.
"I was trying to be aggressive, getting to the paint and making decisions," Joseph said. "I was able to find Kelly [Olynyk] a lot early and a couple of times to [Anthony Bennett]. I think we did better today, especially on the defensive end. I thought our defence started a lot for our offence."
Dwight Lewis topped 2-1 Venezuela with 17 points, while Nestor Colmenares had 16.
Canada, which already qualified for the second round with its victory over Cuba, concludes the first phase of round-robin action on Friday against Puerto Rico (1-2) at 7 p.m. ET.
