Group A: Mogi Basquete Win All Three, Independiente Join Them in Quarterfinals

Mogi Basquete won all three of their Group A games at the Polideportivo Independiente DSC in Oliva, Argentina, and Independiente finished second, so the two will contest the quarterfinals while Olimpia Kings and Importadora Alvarado go home. Mogi's closing 87-65 win over Independiente settled the order at the top, and the margins in the other results suggest that the two qualifiers were also the two strongest teams.
Mogi started with a 89-80 win over Olimpia Kings, building an 11-point first-half lead at 44-33 and holding off a third-quarter fightback in which Olimpia cut it to seven. Daniel Von Haydin (195-G-1999) scored 25 points on 10-of-20 shooting, and Georginho de Paula (197-PG-1996) added 21 points, nine assists, five rebounds and three steals, for the highest efficiency rating of the group (32). A 91-70 win over Importadora Alvarado followed, with Von scoring 20 and Paulo Lourenco 14, and the finish against Independiente was emphatic: a 19-8 first quarter, 71-45 after three, and Independiente shooting 4 of 34 from three-point range and 31.3 percent overall. Von finished the group with 58 points, the most of anyone, and Rafael Paulichi (202-PF-1998) had 39, with De Paula's 38 points and 18 assists in the three games completing the picture. Opponents shot 38.2 percent against Mogi.
Independiente opened with an 85-60 win over Importadora Alvarado, leading 24-6 after the first quarter and 50-20 at halftime, with Juan Guerrero (194-F/G-2003) scoring 21 and Agustin Caffaro (211-C-1995) 18 while Alvarado turned the ball over 24 times. A 101-72 win over Olimpia Kings followed, with Independiente making 38 of 78 shots, outscoring them 31-22 and 29-16 in the last two quarters, and getting 19 points from Rolando Vallejos (196-SF-2000), 18 from Enzo Filippetti (201-F-2001) on 8-of-10 shooting, and 14 each from Caffaro and Felipe Barrionuevo (184-G-2005), who also had seven assists. Guerrero added 11 rebounds. Caffaro, with 38 points in the three games, and Guerrero, with 36, led the scoring.
Olimpia Kings finished third with a single win, a 91-78 success over Importadora Alvarado in which they shot 50 percent from the field and 13 of 26 from three-point range, with seven players in double figures, James Reese V (193-G-1998, college: S.Carolina) leading with 14 and Vincenzo Ochipinti (191-G/F-1999) adding 12. Quatarrius Wilson (203-C/F-1996, college: SEMO) was their central figure throughout, scoring 48 points and taking 29 rebounds in the three games, including 19 points and 13 rebounds against Independiente, when he made 13 of 18 free throws but only 3 of 12 field goals. Arnett Moultrie (208-C-1990, college: MSU) scored 17 in that game and 29 in the group.
Importadora Alvarado lost all three games, scoring 208 points and conceding 267, but were not without their moments. Darol Hernandez-Zinenko (207-F-1989) had 19 points, 10 rebounds and four steals against Olimpia Kings, with an efficiency rating of 29, and Alvarado outscored Olimpia 30-22 in the second quarter of that game. Richard Granberry (203-F-1993, college: Virginia St.) and Hernandez each scored 33 points in the group and Alvaro Chervo (193-F/G-1999) 30, with Granberry's 21 against Independiente the high.