Canada ends pool play with a loss

GWANGJU, South Korea (Team Canada) – The Canadian men’s basketball team (4-1) was defeated 68-61 by Russia (5-0) in the final game of the preliminary round for both teams.

Gwangju 2015 website: www.gwangju2015.com

Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/summer/2015/index

Team Canada Twitter: @CDNUniversiade | #goCanadaU

Canada finishes second in its group and will face Germany (5-0) in the quarterfinal round on Saturday.

“Russia is the defending champion of this tournament and they were a step better than us today,” said Team Canada’s head coach Barnaby Craddock. “We have met our goal to qualify for the final eight and that is got to be what we focus on moving forward. We saw where the bar is set to compete for a medal.”

Canada had a good start against Russia, quickly taking a 6-0 lead with two baskets from Aaron Best (Ryerson University). The focussed Canadians held the lead for the rest of the first quarter and started the second up 14-9.

Russia started to take control of the game midway through the second quarter, with back to back treys by Denis Zakharov and Pavel Antipov putting their team up 22-18. At halftime, the Russians led 28-23.

Canada saw the gap grow when Russia sank three straight from long distance. Those shots made it 43-28 and the quarter finished at 50-39.

The Canadians fought hard to close the gap in the fourth quarter and clawed back within six points, but the Russians held on for the 68-61 win.

Jordan Baker (University of Alberta) recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Tommy Nixon (UBC) scored 13, and Johnny Berhanemeskel contributed 12.

Canada shot 33 per cent from the field against 38 per cent for Russia. Canada won the rebounding battle by a margin of 44-38.

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