Jim Boylen’s Americans did the job in San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico, to claim their fourth success in five games in Group D of the 2023 World Cup qualifiers.
Faced with a still experimental Team USA formation, the locals delivered a good first half (37-42 on a 3-pointer at the buzzer from Jordan Bell) before drawing on the return from the locker room against the address of the tandem of NBAers Justin Jackson-Langston Galloway. Both players scored 9 points each to make it 63-46. And despite the return of Puerto Rico at the very end of the match, with a 3-pointer from Jose Alvarado (20 points) to bring them back to 75-81, Team USA was able to secure the victory (75-83).
” The challenge for us was just to have respect for our opponents and the physical dimension of FIBA basketball. We were ready for this “said the man of the match, Justin Jackson with his 26 points (9/16 shooting, including 5/10 from 3-pointers), 6 rebounds, 3 assists (25 evaluation).
The Americans will complete this first phase in Cuba on Monday.
