Venezuela 88, Uruguay 79

August 28, 2007 � Las Vegas, Nevada

Venezuela scored a surprising win over Uruguay on Tuesday to tip-off day two action of Second Round play at the FIBA Americas Championship 2007. Led by Hector Romero�s game-high 35 points, the Venezuelans were impressive, leading by as many as 22 points earlier in the contest before finishing off Uruguay, 88-79.

Venezuela utilized the three-ball to build its� lead, finishing 13-of-27 as a team from behind the arc. Manuel Barrios shot five-of-six from long distance en route to scoring 19 for the Venezuelans.

Esteban Batista continued his strong play for Uruguay, posting a double-double with 21 points and 20 rebounds in the loss.

NELSON SOLORZANO, VENEZUELA ASSISTANT COACH
What is your balance with today's game and your expectations for the rest of the tournament?
Today's game strategy was to mark Batista well, make sure that Mazzarino could not make his three-point shooting, and pass the ball around until you had a clear shot. That did not happen for the first few quarters, but soon after they made the change we got through. I think that the offensive intensity that Uruguay put at the end of this game was the same as they started it. Venezuela, on the other hand, felt comfortable and got more confident after it made a few shots.

What are your thoughts about Puerto Rico?
We have to make sure they do not make any three-pointers. We have to especially watch out for Carlos Arroyo. Once they start making the three-point shootings, they get more confident in court, and we can not let that happen. We will just have to work harder on our offensive strategy for that game and not let them make their three-pointers.

HECTOR ROMERO, VENEZUELA
In this tournament, Uruguay has been coming back into their game right at the very end. How did this fact affect your preparation for today's game?
Yes, they came back against Puerto Rico, and we knew that they would try to come back at the end. I don't think they do anything special, they just try harder and concentrate more in the game when it gets tough.

At the beginning of the game you helped your team with the outside shooting. Can you comment on that?
That was part of the game plan for today. When Batista was coming for the ball, I was coming in to help. It felt good coming in, taking a couple of shots and getting everybody going. Coach also made sure we had to take good clear shots, take the ball inside and that is what happened today. We passed the ball around, had it rotating and made the shots.

What are your thoughts about Puerto Rico?
Puerto Rico is a complete team. They are very well prepared, so we'll have to prepare extra for that game. We need to focus and get it going since the first minute of the game. If we start good, we will finish good. If we start bad, we will just have to fight harder to win.

ALBERTO ESPASANDIN, URUGUAY HEAD COACH
How did you prepared for this game?
We knew we had to go into this game and start pressuring them from the start. Venezuela, unfortunately, worked out their weaknesses and got back even stronger.

I think Uruguay didn't play this game with the same concentration as the others. I think we lacked on our defense today, and even though we always fight, we just were not able to get the win at the end. We did not have the proper practice that a game like this needs, so our players could not play as comfortably as they need to. They are overwhelm, especially because the qualification for the Olympic Games is becoming harder and harder to reach. We started well, but Venezuela played very smart today.

What are your expectations for the rest of this tournament?
Well, Uruguay will play against the United Sates and Brazil still. I think that for our players to even play against the top of the NBA, the US team, is just an incredible experience. We will just make sure to rotate and give a chance for all of our players to get game time. Other than that, we will just rest up and recharge our batteries for the following game.

ESTEBAN BATISTA, URUGUAY
As the games progresses, you have been getting more and more respect defensively from the other teams. How are your feelings about that?
It is part of the game. The other teams keep trying to mark me as best as they can. I don't think it is personal, but if they have two or three guys marking you, you can't really too much. In today's game, I tried to assist my team as best as I could despite that.

For the rest of the tournament, I will just try to keep playing in the same manner as I always have. I will just try to concentrate more on the game and try to get qualified.