World Cup 2027 Americas Qualifiers: Uruguay Hold Off Puerto Rico for 80-75 Home Win

Uruguay withstood a big night from Ethan Thompson (196-SG-1999, college: Oregon St.) to beat Puerto Rico 80-75 in Second Round action of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Americas Qualifiers on Monday at Antel Arena in Montevideo. The hosts trailed by as many as seven points in the opening minutes before a mid-first-quarter shift put them in front for good, and though Puerto Rico won the fourth quarter outright, it wasn't enough to erase the cushion Uruguay had built by then.
Puerto Rico actually opened the game on a 6-0 run, but Uruguay settled in behind Bruno Fitipaldo (183-PG-1991), whose pullup three with 4:50 left in the first quarter flipped a two-point deficit into a lead the hosts would never fully relinquish. Uruguay padded that advantage with a 7-0 spurt bridging the first and second quarters and later stretched it to as much as 12 points in the second, carrying a 43-37 edge into the break and a 64-55 lead into the fourth before Puerto Rico's late push trimmed the final margin to five.
Fitipaldo finished as the game's decisive figure, scoring 20 points with 6 assists and just a single turnover, shooting 5 of 11 from three-point range over nearly 32 minutes. He got plenty of help off the bench from Joaquin Rodriguez (194-F-1999), who erupted for 17 points in under 15 minutes, including an 8-point burst inside a two-minute span in the first quarter, while Santiago Vescovi (191-G-2001, college: Tennessee) added 16 points and a team-high 7 rebounds in limited action. Thompson was nearly impossible to slow down for Puerto Rico, finishing with a game-high 29 points to go with 6 rebounds and 6 assists on efficient shooting, but he had too little support to overcome Uruguay's balanced scoring across three different players in double figures.