Nicaragua beat Guyana 84-73 in FIBA World Cup Pre-Qualifiers

Jared Ruiz

Guyana got off to a losing start in the FIBA 2023 World Cup Americas Pre-qualifiers in El Salvador on Thursday night, going down to Nicaragua 73-84. While the game was close at halftime, Nicaragua pulled ahead with a dominant third quarter, and though Guyana made a strong fightback in the final quarter, it wasn't quite enough to secure a win. Nicaragua had a 16-14 lead in the first quarter, and maintained the two-point advantage at halftime after both sides scored 26 each to make it 42-40. However, Nicaragua went on a match-defining 21-9 run in the third quarter to take a 14-point lead at 63-49. Though Guyana outscored their opponents 24-21 in the final quarter, it was Nicaragua who emerged with full points from the encounter to go top of the table. Jared Ruiz (188-G-92) had a game-high 29 points (nine rebounds, six assists) for Nicaragua; Norchad Omier (205-F-01) had 14 and Vansdell Thomas (185-PG-86) 13. For Guyana, skipper Stanton Rose led from the front, scoring 20 points (10 rebounds, four assists); Delroy James (203-C-87, college: URI, agency: Network Sports International) had 15 and Terron Welch (188-SG-96) 10. In the earlier game, Jamaica prevailed 69-67 over Costa Rica. Host El Salvador is the other participating nation; the teams play in a round-robin format. On Friday, Guyana will play Jamaica from 18:00h and El Salvador will come up against Costa Rica from 21:00h. The top three teams will advance to the second round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Americas Pre-Qualifiers in July 2021.
Courtesy of: newsroom.gy

Tags : JARED RUIZ, REAL ESTELI, NICARAGUAN BASKETBALL