Mexico's basketball national team won the Centrobasket Under 17 bronze medal, held in Caguas Puerto Rico, by defeating 62-60 the U.S. Virgin Islands on Sunday August 18.
According to El Diario de Yucatán, the Mexican national team obtained the last available spot for the FIBA Americas Under 18 Championship to be held in 2014.
In the bronze medal match, the Mexican team won in a close game in which the Jalisco player's role was decisive to get through to the regional tournament next year. He scored a three-point shot in one of the most critical moment of the game, in the third quarter, and the score 51-48, making way for the Mexicans' victory.
In the first half of the match, the two teams exchanged the lead several times, but was in the second quarter when the Mexican national team could dominate the Virgin Islands team and got an 9 points advantage with a 31-22 score.
The team coached by José Ramón "Pepo" Martínez had its preparation for this match in the Mexican Olympic Sport Center (CDOM). With the U17 basketball team's victory, Mexico now has two teams inside the FIBA U18 Americas Championship next year.
Besides men's team, it should be noted the women's Under 16 team qualified for the U17 World Championship after defeating the Venezuelan national team 60-59 in the FIBA Americas Championship in Cancún, Quintana Roo.