Kyle Wiltjer
Canada's Junior Men's basketball team qualified for the 2011 U19 World basketball Championships...pulling out a hard-earned 100-83 victory over Puerto Rico at the Fiba Americas U18 Basketball Championships for Men in San Antonio, Texas improving to 2-0 in the tournament.The difference in the game was the 1st quarter as Canada led by 11 going into the 2nd as the two teams basically played evenly for the rest of the contest as they won it going away by 17.
The Canucks were led by Kyle Wiltjer who dropped a game-high 31 points to go with 10 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks in a complete game by the Oregon native. He's eligible to play for Canada because his father Greg Wiltjer is Canadian.
Star point guard Myck Kabongo rebounded from a average game yesterday against Uruguay as he scored 22 points with 8 assists and 10 rebounds. Kabongo got to the line often tallying 8 points at the charity stripe.
Other Canadian notables include Khem Birch who hauled down 10 rebounds and 6 blocked shots and Kemy Osse who scored 20 for the victors.
Gary Browne led the Puerto Ricans with 19 points in defeat.
With the win Canada qualifies for the 2011 U19 World Championships and signalling Canada's improving basketball fortunes on the World stage.
Brazil also qualified for the 2011 Championships with a scrappy 71-64 defeat of Uruguay.
The other two probable qualifiers look to be the U.S. and Argentina as both teams are considered the powerhouses of the FIBA Americas zone.
Check out the game summary HERE...and the box score right HERE.