FIBA Americas: Canada blows out Puerto Rico

Canada shook off a slow start to finish preliminary round action at the FIBA Americas Championship with a win.

Andrew Wiggins poured in 19 points as the Canadian men's basketball team downed Puerto Rico 112-92 on Friday to close out Group B play with a 3-1 record.

Kelly Olynyk, Nik Stauskas and Cory Joseph had 15 points apiece for Canada, while Phil Scrubb added 12 points off the bench.

"I thought we played alright," Olynyk said. "We got off to a slow start but we closed the half strong and opened up the third quarter real strong. They are a great team and they have some players that can really go so it was a great win for us."

J.J. Barea led Puerto Rico (1-3) with 20 points. Ramon Clemente chipped in with 16.

Olynyk scored eight points to ignite Canada in the opening quarter, but the Puerto Rican side found their touch from distance early, hitting five threes. Canada led 24-23 at the end of the first quarter.

Canada struggled to score in the second quarter but Wiggins drew fouls to get some easy points. Puerto Rico got out to a 44-35 lead but Canada came back to end the half with a 46-44 advantage.

The Canadians pulled away with a strong third quarter that saw them outscore Puerto Rico 35-16. Canada went into the fourth quarter up 81-58.

"Puerto Rico played very well early," said Canadian coach Jay Triano. "They made some three-point shots and we knew that was part of their game. I was really pleased with the way our guys responded at half-time and even for the last two and a half minutes of the first half."

Canada, which finished second in Group B behind Argentina (4-0), had already qualified for the second round of the tournament with its victory over Cuba on Wednesday.

The top two teams in the tournament qualify for next summer's Rio Olympics — excluding Brazil, which automatically gets an Olympic berth as the host nation.

The Canadian men's team has not played in the Olympics since the 2000 Games in Sydney.