Saturday

Group B

Puerto Rico 101-96 South Sudan

Puerto Rico needed to rally from a double digit deficit but saw four players collect double-doubles to get past debutants South Sudan to start the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 with a 101-96 overtime victory in Saturday’s Group B opening game.

Puerto Rico trailed by as many as 12 points but they came back and showed their experience in overtime to pick up a crucial win in their quest to reach the Second Round for the second straight World Cup.

While four Puerto Ricans tallied double-doubles, South Sudan got an otherworldly performance from Carlik Jones with 38 points and 11 assists.

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South Sudan led by 12 points and led 78-77 when Stephen Thompson swiped the ball from Wenyen Gabriel and fed Ismael Romero for the dunk and Puerto Rico led with 16 seconds to play. After a timeout, South Sudan committed a five-second violation on the inbounds play and Tremont Waters made two free throws with 14 seconds remaining.

Jones answered with a three-pointer with 10.1 seconds to go and then Puerto Rico's Ismael Romero missed both free throws with 0.3 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime. In the extra session, George Conditt's three-point play was followed by two Thompson triples to give Puerto Rico a 91-82 lead and South Sudan could not muster a comeback.

It was a collective effort for Puerto Rico but Tremont Waters was there all game. In total, he collected 19 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Stephen Thompson (21 points and 13 rebounds), George Conditt (18 and 11) and Ismael Romero (16 and 12) all added double-doubles.

Puerto Rico out-rebounded South Sudan 50-38 including 23 offensive rebounds and turned them into 18 second chance points, compared to 9 for South Sudan.

Puerto Rico have the inside track of reaching the Second Round though they face a major test in their next game against Serbia on Monday, August 28. If the Americas can jump to 2-0, it could likely already be locked up a spot in the next stage.

South Sudan now has an uphill battle to reach as they must beat China earlier on Monday.