Puerto Rico break South Sudan hearts in OT thriller

MANILA (Philippines) – Puerto Rico needed to rally from a double digit deficit but saw four players collect double-doubles to get past a determined debutant South Sudan to start the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 with a 101-96 overtime victory in Group B.

Puerto Rico trailed by as many as 12 points but they came back and showed their experience in overtime to pick up a crucial win in their quest to reach the Second Round for the second straight World Cup.

While four Puerto Ricans tallied double-doubles, South Sudan got an otherworldly performance from Carlik Jones with 38 points and 11 assists.

Turning point: South Sudan led by 12 points and led 78-77 when Stephen Thompson swiped the ball from Wenyen Gabriel and fed Ismael Romero for the dunk and the Puerto Rico led with 16 seconds to play. After a timeout, South Sudan committed a five-second violation on the inbounds play and Tremont Waters made two free throws with 14 seconds remaining.

Jones answered with a three-pointer with 10.1 seconds to go and then Puerto Rico’s Ismael Romero missed both free throws with 0.3 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.  In the extra session, George Conditt’s three-point play was followed by two Thompson triples to give Puerto Rico a 91-82 lead and South Sudan could not muster a comeback.

TCL Player of the Game:  It was a collective effort for Puerto Rico but Tremont Waters was there all game. In total, he collected 19 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Stephen Thompson (21 points and 13 rebounds), George Conditt (18 and 11) and Ismael Romero (16 and 12) all added double-doubles.

Stats don’t lie: Puerto Rico out-rebounded South Sudan 50-38 including 23 offensive rebounds and turned them into 18 second chance points, compared to 9 for South Sudan.

Bottom Line: Puerto Rico have the inside track of reaching the Second Round though they face a major test in their next game against Serbia on Monday, August 28. If the Americas can jump to 2-0, it could likely already be locked up a spot in the next stage. South Sudan now have an uphill battle to reach as they must beat China earlier on Monday. 

They said: “We have a couple of things to work out – turnovers on my part. I already apologised to the team. Being the guy with the ball most of the team, they continue to trust me. So I have to get better at that. But overall we did a great job staying together. The last month has taught about that. If we hadn’t learned it yet, we learned that tonight.” – Puerto Rico guard Tremont Waters

“I feel extremely blessed that we came out with a win. It was very ugly but we managed to come out with a win. And that is what is important to win these game. I think we can use our finish to the game moving forward. We need to play with the same energy, care and focus as we did for the last 4 minutes and overtime. Everybody playing like that for 40 minutes and I like our chances against anybody.” – Puerto Rico guard Stephen Thompson

“We didn’t come out with the energy we needed. Our defense wasn’t there in the first half, but we fought back and buckled down to win. That was the most important thing.” – Puerto Rico forward Isaiah Pineiro

“My guys competed. They played hard. They played until the final whistle. We gotta get better from this. This is a learning experience. It’s our first game. You’re never up, you’re never down. You gotta keep it equilibrium and you gotta have composure. And this is a learning experience for us. We have to take the good with the good and the bad with the bad. There are no moral victories for us. We had that game and we gave it away.” – South Sudan coach Royal Ivey

“It was a tough game. It was our first time playing here and it was a matter of staying together and just try to grind it out. Puerto Rico did that and for us it’s a matter of learning from this game. We have to stick to what’s working. The team that stays together will pretty much be the one that wins.” – South Sudan forward Kuany Kuany

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