Colombia Defeats Brazil Maintaining its Hope for World Cup
Colombia Defeats Brazil Maintaining its Hope for World Cup. At the Coliseo Deportivo Elias Chegwin, play continued till the final split-second of double overtime in a classic case of the underdog triumphing. With a huge 104-98 upset, Colombia managed to stun unbeaten Brazil.
The home team appeared to be winning straight away as they quickly outscored Brazil 27-19, played tough defense against the top team in Group B, and appeared to make all of their shots in a frantic first quarter. They kept up their pace into the second quarter, maintaining their advantage of 11 points at the break while benefiting from the support of their home audience.
Brazil recovered their rhythm in the fourth quarter, outscoring Colombia by 10 points to extend the game into the dying seconds. However, in the second half, Brazil changed up their approach, remembering the style of play that typically involves smothering their own defence.
With only five seconds left in the game and the score knotted 76-76, Colombia was barely hanging onto their chances of not only qualifying for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 but also of experiencing the glory of defeating a top team in the world at home in front of passionate supporters.
Colombia was unable to make a shot at the buzzer, which led to the game going into overtime. Brazil had desired they had made more free throws, while Colombia needed more production from their bench. It took two and a half minutes into the first overtime period for Brazil to finally break the scoreless tie, which they would hope may help them maintain their unblemished record, leading throughout the duration. Both teams had to dig deep to find the energy to score.
To keep their own hopes alive, Colombia managed to rebound from one of their own foul shots with one second remaining in the game, tying the score at 87-87. This forced a second overtime, with Colombia knowing this time that they could no longer afford to trail Brazil and that they needed to seize control.
That is exactly what happened when Brian Angola made a three-pointer to start the second overtime, giving Colombia a second wind that allowed them to go up to five points as Brazil ran out of gas. With little over a minute remaining, Brazil had closed the gap to two points after Colombia had led by as many as seven points in overtime due to foul trouble that forced Juan Tello to leave the game.
Even after making enormous three-pointers like those from Hansel Antencia and Angola, Colombia made mistakes in double overtime due to the pressure of the lead, but Brazil’s ability to rebound and score thanks to Bruno Caboclo and Marcelinho Huertas kept Brazil in the game until the very end.
By battling for rebounds and forcing Brazil to attempt off-balance shots on worn-out legs with 12 seconds left to play, Colombia made the correct defensive choices, eliminating Chile from Group B and securing their place in the next round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers.
Even after fouling out, Tello led Colombia with 26 points and 10 rebounds. Andre Ibarguen Andrews added 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Angola added 20 points and 10 rebounds to keep Colombia in the game. Since Tello, Angola, and Atencia all played more than 40 minutes in the game, they were heavily relied upon by Colombia. Together, they contributed 13 points, including important shots in overtime.
With 27 points in the defeat, Huertas led all scorers for Brazil, while Caboclo had a spectacular performance for his nation with 22 points and 10 rebounds. With his 37 minutes of action and double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds, Lucas Dias also had a significant impact on Brazil.