Canada beats Argentina in World Cup qualifying

VICTORIA — Putting up nearly 100 points against a basketball powerhouse may have come as a shock to most hoop fans, but not to Canadian forward Kelly Olynyk.

Canada’s national men's team recorded an impressive 99-87 win over world No. 7 Argentina in FIBA 2023 World Cup qualifying play in the Americas group on Thursday night at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

Canada, ranked No. 18 by FIBA, improved to 7-0 in Group E play. The win comes a year after a gut-wrenching overtime loss in the B.C. capital to Czechia, the country most commonly known as the Czech Republic, in an Olympic qualifier.

“We can score. We have a lot of talent and it doesn’t surprise me a ton,” said Olynyk of the NBA's Detroit Pistons. “We can score with the best of them and we probably could’ve had more. We missed some easy ones. I know I did.”

Olynyk, of Kamloops, B.C., ignited a near-capacity crowd of almost 7,000 as he racked up 21 points. He finished just behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who had a team-high 23.

The key was good starts to both halves, Olynyk offered.

“That helped us out. We were locked in at the beginning. We pushed our lead to 20 (in the second quarter) and it gave us a bit of a cushion,” he said.

Canada is pooled in the second round of World Cup qualifying with Venezuela (6-1), Argentina (5-2), Dominican Republic (5-2), Panama (2-5) and Bahamas (2-5).

The win, although challenging, kept Canada atop the group as it aims to pad its record when it next travels to Panama for a game on Monday.

“This is probably our biggest challenge playing a team like this,” said Canadian head coach Nick Nurse, of the Toronto Raptors. “They’ve got something we’re trying to build which is longevity, experience and chemistry