The Puerto Rican Men’s national basketball team lost 102-84 to the host team in the semi-final, Serbia. They failed in their attempt to reach the Olympics tournament for the first time since 2004.
It was a great effort, but in the end the Puerto Rico National Team failed to advance to the final game in which the only ticket available for the Tokyo 2020 basketball in the Serbian Pre-Olympic will be played.
Puerto Rico fell to the hosts with a score of 102-84, in a game in which they remained with options for a good part of the game.
Serbia will now seeks such a ticket in a European final against Italy, which also eliminated the Dominican Republic early in the morning by defeating it 79-59 in the other semifinal.
Puerto Rico stayed at a reasonable distance during the first half of the game thanks to forward Isaiah Piñeiro, who accumulated 16 points. The Serbs went into the halftime break up 51-40.
The second and fourth sets were the ones that made the difference, since they were fatal for the Puerto Rican offense. Puerto Rico fell short by two in the first 28-26 and the third was tied at 28. However, in the second and fourth, despite the Serbs remaining at 23, Puerto Rico only managed to score 14 and 16, respectively.
The loss was not a surprise sine Serbia is a powerhouse team and ranked fifth in the world whereas Puerto Rico is ranked eighteenth. The fact that Puerto Rico is still considered in the top twenty teams in the world is a milestone.
