FIBA Update: Canada coasts by Venezuela 82-62

Canada moved to 2-1 today at the FIBA Americas after leading Venezuela wire to wire and winning this one comfortably 82-62. Venezuela, playing this tournament without Greivis Vasquez, actually managed to beat a strong Puerto Rico team yesterday and were coming into this one full of confidence.

Right out of the gate, Canada stormed out to a 10-5 lead, and once they kicked the lead to 10, it never got to single digits for the remainder of the game. With Brady Heslip failing to register a single point, Nik Stauskas finally found form and nailed 4 of 5 threes to give Canada a comfortable cushion to head into halftime up 19. Unfortunately, the FIBA boxscore isn't working at the moment, so I can't provide specific stats. FIBA Basketball everybody! Feel the excitement!

The Venezuelans fought back, as much as cutting a lead to 12 can be called fighting back, against primarily the Canadian 2nd unit. Jay Triano brought on the starting squad to put the game away, and the final push featured the following play:

2 more angles of that NASTY slam from Bennett pic.twitter.com/MXeXTVB1QD

— Josh Margolis (@HoosierWolves) September 4, 2015

Notes:

• Dwight Powell, who's been one of Canada's most impressive bigs, hurt himself on a flagrant foul in the 1st half and didn't return for the remainder of the game. No word on the seriousness of his injury yet.
• Kelly Olynyk racked up 7 assists, and looked every bit the skilled big he's advertised as.
• Andrew Wiggins had 6 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists at half. He looked assertive, and that recklessness resulted in 5 turnovers, but it's good to see him pushing the pace.