Baurú from Brazil qualified for the final of the South American League by overwhelmingly beating Titanes de Barranquilla 85-62, in the first game of the Final 4 that is played at the Obras Sanitarias stadium, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Brazilian team took revenge on their rival who had defeated them at the beginning of the quarterfinals and did so with a well-defined game plan that consisted of lowering the offensive rhythm of Titanes, who could never be comfortable in the game.
This Sunday, in the final, Baurú will face San Martín, who beat the Argentine duel 78-69 against Oberá, who will play third place with Titanes.
For Baurú it will be the second final in its history in the South American League and it will try to emulate the feat of 2014 when it won the title.
Baurú was able to impose his conditions early (20-13 in the first quarter) and never lost control again. At halftime the advantage was 41-29 and in the third, those led by ‘Guerrinha’ stopped a reaction attempt by the Colombians (they opened with a 6-0 run), with a great success from long distance. In total there were five triples in eight attempts in the period, to move away 64-46 at the end of that third stretch.
In the final 10 minutes, the Titanes could not cut the distance to less than double digits, while power forward Gemerson Silva was in charge of liquidating the actions with a triple, which made the score 82-57, with only 2:17 minutes. for playing.
Gemerson had a day to remember with 28 units, with 10 of 13 shooting from the field, including 7 of 8 from triples. Four other players surpassed 10 points for Baurú, who overall shot from the field for 56 percent (33-59), with 13 hits from third dimension in 27 shots. Insider Anderson Rodrigues had 13 points off the bench, while Alex Garcia, Danilo Fuzaro and Dontrell Brite each added 11 counts.
For Titanes, who shot 38 percent (21-55), with 6 of 22 three-pointers, Jhornan Zamora did everything to avoid the setback with 17 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. Jonathan Rodríguez followed with 15 points and 8 boards and Ernesto Oglivie with 12 and 7.
*With information from FIBA