Canadian comeback keeps hopes alive
ATHENS - While the Canadian men's basketball team celebrated a pivotal win at Wednesday's Olympic qualifier, the post-game focus was on a player who was nowhere near the action.
With star centre Samuel Dalembert off the team, Canada rallied from a 18-point third-quarter deficit to beat South Korea 79-77, earning a coveted berth in the quarter-final against Croatia.
The Canadians need a top-three finish in the last-chance qualifier to reach next month's Olympic tournament - and they'll have to do it without Dalembert, the Philadelphia 76ers big man who was expected to give Canada some much needed depth up front.
Head coach Leo Rautins declined to reveal specifics about the incident, though his comments implied that Dalembert wasn't as committed to the team as the rest of the players.
"Everybody that's here now wants to be here, and wants to be a part of this team, and that's it," said Rautins. "Everybody here is playing for each other, and playing for Canada, and if that's not your agenda, you're not here."
Rautins said Dalembert's relations with the team have been strained for some time.
"Something like this doesn't just happen in one game, or overnight," said Rautins, who wouldn't say whether Dalembert left on his own or was kicked off the team. "It's kind of something that's been brewing a little bit.
"At this point, our focus is not that. Our focus is the guys that are here, the guys that are sacrificing and giving up everything for each other, and that's the way it is."
Forward Rowan Barrett, who led the team with 22 points against Korea, said the remaining Canadian players are on the same page moving forward.
"We're all unified," said Barrett. "We support our coach in his decision. There's total unity within our team here."
Barrett questioned whether Dalembert, who was born in Haiti but became a Canadian citizen last summer, understood what he was getting into when he agreed to wear the red and white jersey.
"This is not the CIS, the NCAA or the NBA," said Barrett. "This is FIBA basketball. It's a different animal...
"As taxing as it is physically, mentally it's even more taxing."
The bottom line is, you're thinking about the flag. We're out here representing our country."
One day after looking listless in an 86-70 tournament-opening loss to Slovenia, the Canadians came out even more sluggish against a South Korean team looking for an upset. Canada trailed for most of the game, and faced a 77-67 deficit with 2:03 to go.
Jermaine Anderson kick-started the comeback with a steal and an uncontested layup. After Korea failed to inbound the ball in the allotted five seconds, Carl English drove to the basket and made the shot while being fouled. He converted the three-point play, reducing the deficit to five.
After Jung Young Sam missed a pair of free throws, Barrett buried a three-pointer to reduce the deficit to two. Korea turned the ball over again, and Anderson gave Canada its first lead since the first quarter on a three-pointer with 34 seconds left.
Oh Sekeun had a chance to send the game to overtime, but he missed a layup as time expired.
Rautins said his team finally played up to its potential after struggling mightily for a game and a half.
"For some reason, for the Slovenia game and the first half of the Korea game, we just weren't relaxed, guys just weren't themselves," said Rautins. "I wish I could tell you exactly why.
"It seemed that we kind of found ourselves a little bit (against Korea), and hopefully we can use this to move forward."
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