(Toronto, Ont. August 5, 2014)—Canada led the entire game defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina 84-66 in the eighth game of its European Exhibition Series in Trieste, Italy.

“We played well and got off to a good start. We had a few letdowns in the second quarter and allowed them to get back into the game,” said head coach Jay Triano.

“Our defence locked down in the third quarter, and the fourth quarter was one of our better shooting performances. We need to carry over that confidence into tomorrow’s game against Spain.”

With the win, Canada finishes in third-place at the four-game exhibition tournament. Triano was satisfied with the result.

“For us to come third is a big deal. We held Italy – the host nation – to a three-point game. Some consider Serbia a favourite going into the FIBA World Cup and we played them to a five-point game while balancing minutes and fatigue. Today, we held Mirza Teletovic to his lowest-scoring game of the tournament.”

Cory Joseph (Toronto, Ont.) was Canada’s top scorer with 16 points, followed by Kelly Olynyk (Kamloops, B.C.) with 15 points.  Mississauga, Ontario’s Andrew Nicholson added 13 points.

Mirza Teletovic was Bosnia and Herzegovina’s and the game high scorer with 17 points.

Canada’s was able to best Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2 key categories, outrebounding them 46 to 36 and outshooting them 45% to 38% from the floor.

At the end of the first quarter Canada led by 15 outscoring Bosnia and Herzegovina 27 to 12.

Canada continued to lead Bosnia and Herzegovina through the second quarter and was ahead 47 to 38 at half time.

After 3 quarters Canada maintained its lead 64 to 56.

It was in the 4th quarter when Canada ran away with the game outscoring Bosnia and Herzegovina 20 to 10 to win 86 to 66.

Canada travels overnight to Coruna, Spain where they will take on the FIBA World Championship host Spanish team.  Tip-off is 2 p.m. EDT.

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