Puerto Rico 97, Brazil 75

August 27, 2007 � Las Vegas, Nevada

Puerto Rico might want to adopt the motto, �Better late than never� for this tournament. After posting a disappointing 1-3 record in Preliminary Round play (which translated to 0-3 for second round standings), Puerto Rico looked like an entirely different team in its first game of Second Round action. Behind 24 points from Elias Ayuso, the Puerto Ricans upended Brazil by the final of 97-75.

Leandro Barbosa rebounded from his poor performance against the United States the last time out, scoring a game-high 34 points for Brazil. It would not be enough, however, on a night when Puerto Rico held the lead the entire way.

Ayuso�s three-pointer with five minutes to play, which stretched the lead to 79-56, brought the Puerto Rican fans in attendance to their feet. Shortly before that bucket during a stoppage of play, Carlos Arroyo could be seen lending instruction and words of encouragement to fellow guard Ricky Sanchez.

If the spirited play and teamwork continues, supporters of Puerto Rico may have plenty more opportunities over the next few days to feel the way they felt tonight.

MANALO CINTRON, PUERTO RICO HEAD COACH
[Question inaudible]
First of all I would like to personally say thank you to the press for the stories in the paper, the very sincere statements they made towards me in the local newspapers in Puerto Rico.

In terms of the game, this is the real Puerto Rico team. When we play collectively we can compete with all of the other teams in America. It was a perfect game, the ball was passed around, and everyone played good defense. For the first time in four or five games we were able to compete defensively and physically. Everyone did what they had to do to run the offense.

[Question inaudible]
I told the players we needed to play the right game that means passing the ball, taking the right shots, playing defense and not giving the other team the opportunity. We tried to use all 24 seconds on the clock, we moved the ball enough so that we could find the right opportunity so we could finish. This game is very important because it gives us a personality and tells the other teams that we can do it and that they will have to compete with us from now on.

JOSE BAREA, PUERTO RICO
[Question inaudible]
Yesterday we were able to talk before practice, about how we needed to keep going and focus on the second round. We had nothing to loose, all of the bad games are behind us and we are focused on the second round. This is a new life for us and it is very positive. We really made a good game, we needed a positive game to pull this off.

ALUISIO FERREIRA, BRAZIL HEAD COACH
What would be the turning point in the team's attitude for the game against Mexico?
It's at the point right now. I am going to take all of the responsibility; I'm going to be answering all the questions. This is an emotional situation and very difficult one but Brazil has the ability to reverse this. This was a very atypical game and everything went wrong. It wasn't just one factor. Since the beginning of the game Puerto Rico took over. They took over the emotional part of the game and we could never regain our ground. We kind of bounced back in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, we had a lot of pressure and it didn't work out for us.

What good can you take out of games like this?
Nobody likes to have this type of game. But you always need to find a way out of any situation. Our players are united in their desire to win the game tomorrow. Obviously, after losing like this it can make our situation harder but we still will be pushing to move to the next phase. It's all in our hands. We will come tomorrow with full force to play against Argentina. Then we will find out which position we are going to end up in in the tournament. Now we have to do everything we can to win. This championship is about being among the final four. Everything's in our hands and it is in our capacity to work hard and win.

After doing so well in the first round, do you think that made the team over confident?
No. This is not the case. Puerto Rico is a regular opponent of ours. We always play against them. We always have awesome battles. Brazil respects Puerto Rico deeply. Obviously we tried to reverse the bad results in the third quarter but by no means did we have anything less than respect for Puerto Rico coming into this game.