Pacaembu Bigua edge Praga to claim OBL Torneo Litoral title

Pacaembu Bigua captured the Organizacion del Basquetbol del Litoral (OBL) Torneo Litoral championship with a hard-fought 67-64 victory over crosstown rivals Praga at the Remeros Mercedes stadium on March 27, completing a dominant campaign through Uruguay's Litoral regional basketball competition. The all-Mercedes final lived up to the intensity that local derbies demand, with neither side able to pull away comfortably in a tense, low-scoring affair that came down to the final possessions. Edison Espinosa (202-C-1996) was the driving force for the champions, finishing with a team-high 14 points on 4-of-8 from two-point range and 1-of-5 from three, while converting an efficient 5-of-7 from the free-throw line. Espinosa also contributed across the stat sheet with two rebounds, three assists and a steal in 30 minutes. Tomas de Leon (195-F-1999) matched him with 19 points in a game-high 34 minutes, attacking the basket relentlessly with 5-of-6 shooting from inside the arc and adding 4-of-5 from the stripe, along with five rebounds, nine assists and three steals for a superb all-around performance. Agustin Da Costa (191-F-1998) added 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds (two offensive) across 36 minutes, providing the interior presence that Pacaembu needed on both ends of the floor.
For Praga, Rick Jackson (206-F-1989, college: Syracuse) carried the scoring load with a game-high 14 points in 37 minutes, shooting 3-of-7 from two-point range and converting 2-of-6 from the free-throw line while pulling down eight rebounds. Demian Alvarez (193-F-1984) was outstanding with 27 points on 4-of-8 from two and an impressive 7-of-8 from the free-throw line, adding six rebounds and a block. However, the rest of the Praga roster struggled to provide sufficient support — no other player reached double figures, and the team shot just 25.8 percent from three-point range (2-of-8) and 37.1 percent overall from two (13-of-35).
Both sides struggled with their shooting — Pacaembu connected at just 20 percent from beyond the arc (3-of-15) and 44.7 percent from two (17-of-38), while Praga fared little better. The difference ultimately came at the free-throw line, where Pacaembu converted 15-of-25 (60%) compared to Praga's 14-of-24 (58.3%), and on the glass, where the champions held a 37-26 rebounding advantage that proved decisive in a three-point game.
The title caps a strong Torneo Litoral campaign for Pacaembu Bigua, who entered the four-team tournament as champions of the Liga Regional de Basquetbol de Soriano. The competition brought together the top two clubs from both the Litoral Norte (Centro Allavena and Centro Pelotaris of Paysandu) and the Soriano regional league (Pacaembu Bigua and Praga of Mercedes) in a round-robin format followed by a final.
The OBL continues to grow as a vehicle for developing basketball across Uruguay's interior, with the organization working to integrate clubs from Paysandu, Salto, Soriano, Rio Negro and eventually Colonia and Artigas into a unified competitive structure that feeds into the Liga Uruguaya de Basquetbol through the play-in system.