DALEMBERT LEADS CANADA TO WIN

Samuel Dalembert had 15 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots to lead Canada to a 93-83 victory over the U.S. Virgin Islands on Friday in the opening round of the FIBA Americas Championship at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Dalembert, the 6-foot-11-inch center for the Philadelphia 76ers who became a Canadian citizen last month, was helped inside by 6-7 Juan Mendez, who played at Niagara and had 22 points and seven rebounds. Canada (2-1) shot 63 percent from the field (20 of 32) in taking a 53-40 halftime lead.

Levon Kendall, a 6-10 forward who played at Pittsburgh, scored the first six points of a 14-2 run that gave Canada an 82-64 lead with 8:14 left.

The Virgin Islands (0-2), which lost 123-59 to the United States in its opener, had one last run, outscoring Canada 13-2 to close within 86-79 with 3:24 to go. But Carl English, who played on UNLV’s court several times during his college career at Hawaii, hit a 3 with 2:46 left to break a 4:04 scoring drought by Canada and give it an 89-79 lead.

BRAZIL 101, VENEZUELA 75 — Marcelo Machado hit five 3-pointers and finished with 20 points to lead Brazil to it victory over winless Venezuela.

Machado hit four of the 3s in the first half when Brazil (2-0) took a 43-36 lead. Leandro Barbosa, who plays for the Phoenix Suns, picked up his play in the second half, scoring 12 of his 15 points as the Brazilians pulled away. A layup by Tiago Splitter with 3:07 left in the third quarter gave them a 68-45 lead.

Hector Romero had 21 points for Venezuela (0-3).

PANAMA 95, MEXICO 90 — Danilo Pinnock scored 30 points to lead Panama to its first victory of the tournament.

Pinnock, who played at George Washington, had 21 points in the first half when Panama (1-2) took a 54-47 lead. His last three points were free throws in the final 2:25 that helped hold off a closing run by Mexico (1-1), which trailed 80-72 early in the fourth quarter.

Former UNLV player Romel Beck hit a 3-pointer with 2:49 to play that made the score 90-86. Pinnock made two free throws with 2:25 left to get Panama’s lead back to six. After Gustavo Ayon and Beck brought Mexico within 92-90 with a minute left, Pinnock made one of two free throws with 17 seconds left for a three-point lead.

• Today’s games:

United States vs. Canada, noon

U.S. Virgin Islands vs. Brazil, 3 p.m.

Uruguay vs. Puerto Rico, 5:30 p.m.

Argentina vs. Mexico, 8 p.m.

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