Take care of business.
In my previous piece covering the 2025 AmeriCup Qualifiers, I stressed the importance of Canada Basketball not underestimating their opponents. After all, Nicaragua has already qualified for the AmeriCup as the host country and only the top 2 remaining teams from Group C would qualify for the tournament. Picking up a win with a huge point differential on the first night would set Canada up on the right track moving forward, giving them the upper hand over the Dominican Republic and Mexico.
Despite being shorthanded to just 10 players, Canada did exactly that, beating Nicaragua 96-51. Aaron Best led the way for Canada, scoring 21 points on 5/9 shooting from 3. Best’s hot shooting from beyond the arc propelled Canada overall as a team as they dropped in 17 3’s on the night, almost triple the amount recorded by Nicaragua.
Jackson Rowe, Phil Scrubb, Thomas Kennedy and Kadre Gray all chipped in with double digit scoring numbers to round out Canada’s high powered offense, which was especially potent generating points off of turnovers (25-3). On the other hand, Trae Bell-Haynes and Kaza Kajami-Keane really struggled shooting, with both players under 34% from the field. They did do a fantastic job distributing and taking care of the ball (combined 13-3 AST:TO ratio), but Canada’s going to need some more scoring punch from the PG spot moving forward, especially against stronger teams.
Canada currently sit in 1st place in Group C, tied record-wise with the Dominican Republic at 1-0. Their +45 point differential is big and Canada will look to continue their strong play on Monday February 26th, when they face off against Nicaragua again in Managua.
