By Duane Turner, Centennial College
TORONTO – Canada’s men’s basketball team was tested by Argentina Wednesday night but prevailed by a score of 88-83 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
The home side started off slow due to constant ball pressure and denial from their South American opponents. It wasn’t until Kentucky-bound Jamal Murray entered the game that the team got things going offensively.
Canada’s initial starting five did not provide significant production as physical play led to foul trouble. That, coupled with less-than-stellar play from their guards, forced the Canadians to turn to guys like Murray.
“That’s one of things that we have to grow as a team, understanding the international game,” said head coach Jay Triano, the former Toronto Raptors coach.
“Some games are going to be super physical, that’s how they wanted to play tonight. I think we had four, five guys with four fouls. We had to change our lineup, we had to go small in order to keep players on the floor, but that’s understanding the game. If it’s going to be called like that, either you have to match it, or you have to be able to play through the physicality. And I think our guys grew as the game went on.”
Argentina’s narrow loss to Mexico gave it extra motivation, and after leading 50-44 through two quarters, the South Americans refused to let up. Luckily for Canada, Andrew Nicholson stepped up to give home supporters a second-half show.
The Mississauga, Ont. native finished the contest with 24 points and 12 rebounds, something his coach attributed to finding different ways to get him the ball.
“We thought Andy would have an advantage in the post,” Triano said. “We didn’t do a very good job. They pressured us a lot in the first half.
“We finally were able to swing the ball and set the tide, punch it inside, and get him some looks. We were trying to get him looks inside; he’s a good low post scorer. They weren’t going to leave Brady (Heslip), they were scouting him from the other night, so we tried to get Brady and Andrew on the same side of the floor to punch it in.”
Nicholson wasn’t the only Canadian to produce in a big way. Anthony Bennett was one of the players who had to deal with foul trouble all night, but he said playing relaxed allowed him to end the night with 17 points and six rebounds.
“Oh yeah, definitely. I feel way more relaxed,” the Toronto native said.
“Just going out there, playing like I had at UNLV — coaches, players, everybody just helping me out with that.”
Tied at 80 with less than a minute to play, it was Heslip who rattled in a three after spinning off of his defender to get free. He scored 24 in Canada game against the Dominican Republic, and while his 10 in this contest was well below that, Bennett knew who owned the shot of the game.
“Honestly, it wasn’t even me it was Brady,” said the Minnesota Timberwolves forward.
“He hit that three at the end of the game in the last 30 seconds. That was definitely a big bucket.”
This story was produced by students from Centennial College in Toronto in conjunction with Postmedia.