… lose final game 74-63 against Mexico

DESPITE putting up their best performance, Guyana fell short by 11 points (74-63) against Mexico in what was their third and final game at this year’s Centrobasket U-17 tournament, held in the Dominican Republic.
Andrew Wiggins was once again the team’s ‘hot hand’, finishing the game with 22 points, though shooting a miserable 9-28 from the floor. Wiggins also had seven rebounds.
Nigel Bowen turned in a ‘double-double’ performance, scoring 21 points, shooting 50% from the floor (7-14), while grabbing 10 rebounds.
No other Guyanese was able to reach double digits, but centre Akeem Crandon had another good night on the glass, grabbing 14 rebounds; 13 of which were defensive. The 17-year-old Berbician also had two blocked shots to go along with his three points.
Mexico’s shooting guard and captain Moises Andriassi had a game-high 25 points, hitting six of his 13 attempts from beyond the arc to lead his team to the ‘final four’. Andriassi also had 11 rebounds.

Forward Javier Gonzalez scored 15 points, while all the Mexicans featured on their team’s score sheet.
It was the Spanish-speaking country’s second win after toppling the Bahamas 83-5 in their previous game.
Guyana went into yesterday’s game having suffered heavy back-to-back defeats, and needed to end their campaign on a positive, but, the script for the game was written differently.
Mexico raced to a 21-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, but, Guyana rebounded in the second period, scoring 21 points though allowing 25 by their counterparts, closing the first half trailing 29- 46.
While Wiggins and Bowen tried their best to keep Guyana in the game, Mexico were able to have their way with Guyana’s defence and entered the final quarter with a 25-point lead (67-42).
With the Mexican coach resting some key players in the fourth, Bowen and Wiggins made a surge and attempted to make a final ‘hooray’ but the 21 points scored was not enough to hand them their first win at the tournament.