The Canadian U23 Men opened GLOBL Jam with an 88-62 victory over Africa's BAL Select at Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto on Tuesday.
Elijah Mahi led Canada with 17 points and six rebounds while Thomas Kennedy added 15 points, five rebounds and three assists and Aiden Warnholtz led the team with seven assists as the Canadians overcame a slow start and a close opening quarter that saw BAL Select hold a 21-19 lead after the opening 10 minutes.
“Coach came into the locker room just now and said you don’t beat a team in just one quarter,” Kennedy said. “That was a really positive outcome from the first quarter. We could have gotten down on ourselves, because we were trailing there, but we didn’t. We found the margin that we wanted and kept our foot on the gas pedal and built that margin for 40 minutes.”
A layup from Nana Owusu-Anane tied things up at 21 points apiece to open the second quarter, beginning an 8-0 run by Team Canada as a three-pointer from Marko Maletic put Canada in front 27-21 with 7:25 remaining in the half. Back-to-back buckets inside from Enoch Boakage and Aiden Warnholtz kept Canada’s lead at seven with three minutes remaining in the second.
An emphatic dunk from Kennedy and then a three-pointer from Warnholtz extended Canada’s advantage to double figures, 42-31, with under a minute remaining in the half. Canada closed the quarter strong, as a layup from Joel Brown and then a three-pointer from Jahmyl Telfort put Canada in front 47-34 at the break.
“You can’t win them all if you don’t win the first, so to come out like that and follow the standard that the women set in the first [game] and get a similar margin, it was a good feeling,” Kennedy said.
Canada shot 49 per cent in the win while holding BAL Select to 32 per cent shooting. The Canadians also held a 50-28 edge in points in the paint.
“I think it was more impressive, our ability to play together after only one week [together in camp],” Kennedy said. “A bunch of assists, moving the ball, making extra passes.”
The Canadians held a 20-6 edge in assists over BAL Select.
The third quarter was all Canada as the Canadians outscored BAL Select 24-14 to build a 73-49 advantage heading into the fourth quarter. With the game already broken open, Canada began the fourth strong and continued to roll. A three-pointer for Boakage extended Canada’s lead to 32 points, the largest of the game, with 2:39 remaining.
It’s a good atmosphere,” Kennedy said of getting to play in front of a home crowd at Mattamy Athletic Centre. “It’s always nice to have Canadians in the crowd. Usually when I’m wearing a Canadian jersey we’re down south, we’re in Europe, we rarely get to have Canadians in the crowd, so to be playing at home, on home soil, it's definitely a great feeling”
Next up for Team Canada’s U23 Men’s team is a meeting with the USA on Thursday, July 13 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
Fans can catch all of the action live on Sportsnet.
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