Canada advances to gold medal game at FIBA U18 Americas Championship

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. — Emanuel Miller scored 31 points and added 14 rebounds as Canada beat Puerto Rico 95-89 on Friday to advance to the gold-medal game at the FIBA under-18 Americas Championship.

Canada will play the United States in Saturday’s final. The U.S. downed Argentina 104-92 in the other semi Friday.

Andrew Nembhard had 14 points and 17 assists for the Canadians, Addison Patterson had 16 points and A.J. Lawson poured in 14.

Jorge Torres led Puerto Rico with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Alejandro Vasquez added 19 points.

Canada has gone undefeated through five games at Meridian Centre, including a quarterfinal victory against Panama Thursday night that guaranteed the Canadians a berth at next summer’s U19 FIBA World Cup, which they won last year in Cairo. The top four teams from the U18 Americas Championship advance to next year’s World Cup.

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Canada has never won the U18 FIBA Americas tournament, finishing runner up to the United States the previous two events. But the Canadians finally upset the U.S. in the semifinals of last summer’s World Cup en route to an historic gold medal, the first for Canada in a global basketball championship.

Argentina will play Puerto Rico in the third-place game Saturday.

The Canadian Press