Dead and buried after 20 minutes of horrible basketball, Canada put on a stirring comeback to keep its longshot Beijing basketball hopes alive. Barrett had a game-high 22 points for Canada in the victory.
Jermaine Anderson's three-pointer with 34 seconds left and some staunch late-game defence allowed Canada to rally from 18 points down just after halftime. It wasn't easy, it wasn't pretty and it was shrouded in a bit of controversy but Canada does move on to face either Croatia or Puerto Rico on Friday in the sudden-death quarter-finals.
Clutch three-pointers by Anderson and Barrett in the final minutes allowed Canada to stage its stunning comeback and took the sting away from a horrible start.
What the Koreans did came as no surprise, especially since Rautins said Tuesday that he knew they would fire three-pointer after three after three-pointer. But somehow the Koreans continually got open looks on the perimeter and drilled nine threes in the first half alone as they ran up a 49-33 lead at the break.
Canada was so discombobulated it was shocking.
They committed 13 turnovers in the first half, appalling for playing in a game of such significance, and with significant inside advantage, they couldn't get the ball near the basket. The Canadians shot just two free-throws in the first half to a dozen for Korea, which had little or no inside presence.
But as bad as they were in the first half, Canada managed to regroup in the third quarter to make it a game. Finally able to contest shots, and getting good offensive production, they narrowed the gap to 64-59 after three.
