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Canada gets revenge from 2016 in dominant win over France at FIBA World Cup

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The last time Team Canada was in the Philippines was in 2016, when they were part of a last-chance qualifying tournament to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The youngest member of that team was a 17-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and although he didn’t play a single minute in the tournament, the experience was a monumental moment in his career.

I was really young. I didn’t play a minute in a game. I was pissed about it,” Gilgeous-Alexander said at training camp for the 2023 FIBA World Cup in Toronto in early August. “I think I learned professional basketball that year. I learned a lot of terminology, the physicality of it, the speed of it. And it for sure was a kickstart to my professional career.”

Canada made it to the finals of that tournament only to lose to France, the No. 5 ranked basketball nation on earth, who has been to three straight Olympics and won silver at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and in the 2022 EuroBasket— the same team that happened to be their opponent on opening day of this summer’s FIBA World Cup.

“Coincidentally enough, seven years later, we’re in the World Cup trying to get to the quarterfinals and all the things to qualify for the [2024] Olympics and we will be in the Philippines, and our first game is against France,” Team Canada assistant coach Nathaniel Mitchell explained, alluding to the full-circle nature of Canada’s path over the phone ahead of the tournament.

“We had some of these guys [on that team], but mainly a guy that didn’t even play a minute in the tournament, in SGA, who now will probably be one of our best players if not our best player or captain — our best player, basically, going into this tournament against France, trying to qualify for the Olympics in the Philippines.”

Canada came into the most highly anticipated match of the group stage looking for revenge. They not only wanted to beat France for the first time since the 1984 Olympics, but also to set themselves up for a significantly easier path out of the group stages and into the knockout round of this World Cup in the Philippines. And they did that and more, rolling over the French side in a dominant 95-65 win in Indonesia Arena in Jakarta, Indonesia.

“It felt good,” Gilgous-Alexander said after the game. “Most importantly, we got a dub. We won, did what we came here to do. Still only one game. We got a lot to accomplish and look forward to, but it’s a good start.”

Just like Mitchell predicted, it was 25-year-old Oklahoma City Thunder guard Gilgeous-Alexander who led the way for the Canadians, pouring in 27 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists in the game, including 13 points in a third quarter that saw the Canadians outscore the French 25-8 — one of the most dominant and most important quarters in the history of the Canadian men’s national team.

That might sound like hyperbole, but it was a jittery start in which Team France jumped out to a 7-0 lead and led 18-14 after one quarter. Canada was missing wide-open shots, both Kelly Olynyk and Dwight Powell got into early foul trouble, and the five-man bench group was getting thoroughly outplayed to close the quarter, meaning things weren’t looking good early for the Canadians. In fact, even Gilgeous-Alexander went scoreless in the opening frame, missing his first five shots of the contest.

The only bright spot of the first quarter was Dillon Brooks, who kept it close with his tone-setting defense and a pair of huge dunks in the early going. However, Canada started to turn things around in the second quarter when Rudy Gobert elbowed Olynyk in the face, leading to an unsportsmanlike foul, two free-throws, the ball, and Gobert’s second foul of the game, forcing the French big man to take a seat on the bench.

Canada went on a 10-3 run during that time, with Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Lu Dort coming off the bench to fuel Canada. Thanks to Dort’s feisty defense and Alexander-Walker’s timely three-point shooting Canada went into the halftime break up three, 43-40.

But the third quarter will be one to remember for the ages, especially if Canada goes on to achieve their goals of qualifying for the Olympics through this tournament, as Canada came out of the halftime break with renewed energy on the defensive end.

Canada announced its presence on the world’s stage with authority, picking up a 30-point win over the global basketball superpower. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

They out-worked and out-smarted a very experienced French side, fighting over screens and jumping into passing lanes to contest every single dribble and pass the French side made. They held France to just 8 points in the entire quarter while Evan Fournier, who went off to score 19 of France’s 40 points in the first half, was held to just 2 points the rest of the game.

“We played really good basketball today. We did the right things on both ends of the court for the most part of the game. And we know that when we do that and play to our identity and the things that we’ve been preaching for the last month, that we can beat and play with anyone in the world,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We just got to continue to get better, and the sky’s the limit.”

It’s not only that Canada outscored France 25-8 in the frame and never looked back, limiting France to 10-of-31 shooting in the second half and outscoring them 52-25 to complete the blowout — it’s also the way they did it that was most impressive.

Sure, Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with his timely scoring and tough shot-making, but it was a full team effort from the Canadians, playing with pride for their country, sacrificing shots, starring in their roles, and sticking to the game plan by outscoring France 12-2 in fast-break points and 16-6 in second-chance points.

Plus, it was the way Canada made a powerhouse nation like France look downright shook by the end of the game.

Canada bullied France in the paint to win the free-throw battle 27-13 and the rebounding battle 45-35, despite being the significantly smaller team at both frontcourt positions. “We got our ass kicked,” was how Fournier put it after the game.

Throughout the whole game, Canada never let up.

“It’s always good to be rewarded when you’ve been working so hard,” Team Canada head coach Jordi Fernandez added. “So I give these guys all the credit in the world. Because when everybody tells you, the outside noise of how good you are, and you work and you show it and you play this hard, you got to enjoy it.”

“But like you say, my job is to get them ready for the next game. I’ve been in World Cups, Olympics, EuroBaskets, NBA Playoffs. And I think the most important game of your life is your next game. And if we think differently, we’re wrong. And we haven’t done anything… We know what we are here for and that next game, it’s gonna be [the biggest of] our lives.”

Canada will round out their group stage with games against Lebanon on Sunday and Latvia on Tuesday, but it helps to know that they will have the best player on the floor in almost every contest moving forward.

That’s Gilgeous-Alexander, the First-Team All-NBA superstar, who just became the first player to combine for 20+ points, 10+ rebounds and 5+ assists in his debut game at the World Cup over the last 30 years, and the first Canadian player to record a 20-point double-double in a senior men’s World Cup game.

He has come a long way from being a lanky teenager who sat on the bench watching his nation lose to France, in the Philippines, seven short years ago.

“You guys can see here a guy that is gonna be the MVP of this World Cup,” Fernandez said of his star, who was sitting beside him at the post-game podium. “But it’s, again, just one game. He’s gonna do it again next game, and next game, and the next game.”

 

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Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

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Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

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OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

AP college sports:

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