Canada Basketball – CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA (April 10, 2018) – Canada’s men’s Commonwealth Games team defeated England 97-79 on Tuesday evening to advance to the semifinals at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Conor Morgan led Canada with a game-high 24 points, while Ammanuel Diressa chipped in 18 points in the victory.  Munis Tutu recorded 16 points, four rebounds and three steals, while Justus Alleyn and Mamadou Gueye each added 12 points.

Canada came out firing on all cylinders in the first quarter, outscoring England 30-12 to build an 18-point advantage after 10 minutes.  An 11-0 run, their largest of the game, helped Canada establish 36-12 lead early in the second quarter.  Canada dominated England inside in the opening half, outscoring them 38-8 in the paint as the lead grew to a game high 29 points.  Despite being outscored in the second half, Canada led from wire-to-wire as their first half advantage proved more than enough to propel them to victory.

Click here for the box score.

With the victory, Canada will now take on New Zealand in the semifinals.  It will be their second meeting of the tournament and first since New Zealand defeated Canada 82-60 to conclude Men’s Preliminary Round Pool A play on Monday.

Canada is chasing their first medal in basketball at the Commonwealth Games.  Basketball has only been on the Commonwealth Games program once, at Melbourne 2006 (Canada did not enter teams in the tournament).

QUOTES

“It’s great for our team to move on.  We clicked at the right time.  We’re looking forward to heading to the Gold Coast and competing for a medal.” – Conor Morgan

“The guys came out very focused tonight at both ends.  Defensively we are starting to come together and the group is sharing the ball more and more each game.  We will get refocused now as we head back to the Gold Coast for the medal rounds.  We need to keep improving as a team every day in order to be successful moving forward.” – Kirby Schepp, Head Coach

UP NEXT

Canada will now travel to the Gold Coast to face New Zealand on Saturday, April 14 at 12:30 (Friday 10:30 PM ET) in the semifinals. The game will be streamed on DAZN. Click here for the complete tournament schedule.

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For more information, contact:

Matt Walker, mwalker@basketball.ca