Brazil 104, Mexico 90

August 28, 2007 � Las Vegas, Nevada

After suffering consecutive losses to the United States and Puerto Rico, Brazil was able to regain the form it had early in the tournament on Tuesday night against Mexico. Behind 21 points from Leandro Barbosa, Brazil snapped a two-game losing streak and defeated Mexico 104-90.

Nene Hilario added 17 points and seven rebounds for the Brazilians, who tallied 26 fast break points compared to just four by Mexico.

Romel Beck scored a game-high 29 points in a losing effort for Mexico.

ALUSIO FERREIRA, BRAZIL HEAD COACH
What are your thoughts about the game?
We had a pretty difficult game due to yesterday's loss. The most important element to me was the emotional balance that our team presented today. The team came determined to make a strong defense and have a collective game. That is what we did and the results are great.

How do you compare today's performance with yesterday's?
I think that today, the team performed the way they have been doing throughout this tournament. Since we played an unusual game last night, we had a bad vibe. But the team was able to recover, and that is what is important.

Was not having a break after yesterday's loss a blessing in disguise?
It is obvious that depending on the game and situation that having a break or not having it, it is a blessing in disguise. If you have a physical fatigue, it is good to have a break to recover. If you have an emotional fatigue, it is good not having a break. So in our case, since the exhausting was much more of an emotional one, it was a blessing having played today.

GUILHERME GIOVANNONI, BRAZIL
It looks like you left everything in the court. What are some of the adaptations you will have to make for the following games?
I think that today was the game to win. From now on, we have to take all the good things from this game and carry it over to the following matches. I would have to say that we should especially focus on defense as we had a great defensive game today. If we don't take all the positives, it will be very difficult to go to the Olympic Games.

NOLAN RICHARDSON, MEXICO HEAD COACH
Was there a silver lining in this performance?
Yes, it reminded us that it is coming closer to the end. We have been working extremely hard. We've had a pretty long season; when we got here, we had already played nineteen games. I think we had the right intensity against the match with Puerto Rico, but I could not see the same level of intensity today. I know that yesterday's game was tough, but I hoped it wouldn't affect us as much as it did.

Can you comment on Romel Beck's performance tonight?
Romel is a remarkable basketball player. You can use him in every position across the basketball court. The more I watch him, the more I don't understand why he is not playing in the NBA. For me, out of some of the guys who made into the NBA, Romel is a much better overall player. I am hoping that someone was able to see his ability and will give him a chance. He has those types of credentials as far as I am concerned.

ROMEL BECK, MEXICO
Can you talk about your performance in this tournament?
I think we came a long way. From day one, we struggled to get adjusted to this system. It was a struggle, but, again, I think we came a long way in this tournament. I think we needed coach to be here to play at this level, to play very hard and even beat Puerto Rico.