| FINAL STANDINGS 1. United States 2. Venezuela 3. Brazil 4. Puerto Rico 5. CANADA 6. Argentina 7. Mexico 8. Panama 9. Cuba 10. Uruguay | CANADIANS Leo Rautins (Toronto, Ont.) Bill Wennington (Montreal, Que.) David Turcotte (Ottawa, Ont.) Mike Smrek (Port Robinson, Ont.) Greg Wiltjer (Whitehorse, Yukon) Gerald Kazanowski (Nanaimo, B.C.) J.D. Jackson (Vernon, B.C.) Ronn McMahon (Lethbridge, Alta.) Martin Keane (Toronto, Ont.) Phil Ohl (Courtenay, B.C.) Jay Triano (Tillsonburg, Ont.) Trevor Williams Ken Shields (coach) |
| POOL B | BRA | VEN | PUR | MEX | URU | Record | ||
| Brazil | —– | 28-81 | 95-72 | 90-87 | 139-93 | (3-1) | ||
| Venezuela | 81-28 | —– | 80-91 | 88-85 | 110-97 | (3-1) | ||
| Puerto Rico | 72-95 | 91-80 | —– | 64-58 | 104-88 | (3-1) | ||
| Mexico | 87-90 | 85-88 | 58-64 | —– | 98-89 | (1-3) | ||
| Uruguay | 93-139 | 97-110 | 88-104 | 89-98 | —– | (0-4) | ||
| POOL A | USA | ARG | CAN | PAN | CUB | Record | ||
| United States | —– | 128-87 | 105-61 | 112-52 | 136-57 | (4-0) | ||
| Argentina | 87-128 | —– | 80-87 | 94-76 | 73-71 | (2-2) | ||
| Canada | 61-105 | 87-80 | —– | 71-62 | 78-79 | (2-2) | ||
| Panama | 52-112 | 76-94 | 62-71 | —– | 86-67 | (1-3) | ||
| Cuba | 57-136 | 71-73 | 79-78 | 67-86 | —– | (1-3) | ||
| QFs | United States (bye) | |
| QFs | Brazil (bye) | |
| QFs | Venezuela 76 Canada 72 | |
| QFs | Puerto Rico 92 Argentina 85 | |
| Semi | United States 119 Puerto Rico 81 | |
| Semi | Venezuela 100 Brazil 91 | |
| Bronze | Brazil 93 Puerto Rico 91 | |
| Final | United States 127 Venezuela 80 | |
One week before Olympic Qualifying Tournament, held in Portland, starting point guard Eli Pasquale broke his ankle during an exhibition tournament in Puerto Rico while playing for the national team against the United States Basketball League all-stars. Canadian centre Bill Wennington and a USBL player collided and fell on Pasquale’s foot. A week earlier, Rick Fox had informed the team he wouldn’t play for Canada at the tournament. Pasquale’s loss means J.D. Jackson or Ronn McMahon would have to play the point. McMahon born in America to Canadian parents who registered his birth in Lethbridge. He is given the green light to play for Canada two weeks before the qualifying tournament starts.
Canada drops a 79-78 heartbreaker to Cuba when Jose Diaz hits a desperation three with less
than a second to play. Canada blew a 14-point half-time lead and frittered away and 10-point bulge with seven minutes to play. Stingy defence and red-hot offence led the lead but the defence suddenly went south and the offence cold. NBAers Leo Rautins and Bill Wennington became invisible. Rautins scored nothing and got no rebounds. Wennington was scoreless and fumbled the ball away in the final minute of play. 5-7 guard Ron McMahon hit two free throws with 18 seconds to play to give Canada a 78-76 lead. But Diaz hit an off-balance 21-foot jumper to crush Canada.
Against Argentina, Canada won by seven with an impressive second half rally. Trailing 49-44 at the half, they came out of the lockers playing tenacious defence and opened the half with a 10-0 run. Wennington dominated inside, scoring four points during the 10-0 run, with Gerald Kazanowski nailing the other six. In the first half, Argentina shot 70 per cent from the floor and out-rebounded the Canadians despite being outsized. Leo Rautins was all but invisible, while centres Greg Wiltjer and Mike Smrek got in early foul trouble. Argentina led by as many as 12 although Canada rallied to within five at the half. “Today we came out and played tough, emotional basketball,” said forward Gerald Kazanowski. Bill Wennington said attitude proved the difference. “Everyone had a positive attitude, no one gave up and we played good team ball.” Ronn McMahon was stellar in the second half, hitting two free throws with 1:20 to play to ice it. Wennington finished with 24 points. Kazanowski added 16, McMahon 14 and David Turcotte 12. Hector Campana led Argentina with 17. Marce Milanesio and Juan Espil each added 14.
In their third game, the Canadians drop a 105-61 decision to the Americans. The U.S.A. opened with a 7-0 run before clawed back to within 7-5 and kept it close at 11-8, 13-10 and 18-10. But the dream team’s talent proved too much. The U.S. built a 50-33 lead at the half and romped. Charles Barkley led the Americans with 19 points. Karl Malone added 15. Centre Mike Smrek paced Canada with 14. Gerald Kazanowski added 11, Ronn McMahon 10 and J.D. Jackson 10. The Canadians requested and receive a group picture with the Americans prior to the start of the match. Karl Malone said he and teammate Charles Barkley were determined to get a measure of revenge for a 1983 loss suffered at the hands of the Canadians in the FISU Games. “You can always say this went wrong or that went wrong but they beat us and I’m looking forward to playing them again,” Malone said. ‘We think we’re the best team in the world and we plan to show that. I’m not concerned about the score; if we play well, the scores will take care of themselves.” That they did. The Americans out-rebounded Canada 54-32. The Americans struggled early with Larry Bird on the bench with a sore back and John Stockton sidelined in the second half with a bruised hip. Patrick Ewing, however, made his tournament debut after hurting his thumb in practice last week. For much of the first half the Canadians gave the U.S. squad a game, trailing just 31-24 with 6:57 left after a 9-2 run keyed by two jumpers by Bill Wennington, who played despite a deep cut over his right eye in the first half. Malone then scored six points during a 17-6 run that gave the Americans a 48-30 lead before they settled for a 50-33 halftime advantage. The expected blowout finally took shape early in the second half with a 15-0 run capped by Scottie Pippen’s three-pointer and dunk that made the score 71-40 with 14:05 left. Wennington sat out most of the second half trying to recover from the cut suffered in a clash of heads with David Robinson.
Rautins, ineffective in Canada’s first three matches, nailed a pair of threes to start the game against Panama and finished with 16 points as Canada prevailed 71-62. “I wanted to make a solid effort to get involved right away,” said Rautins, who also dished out three assists and grabbed six boards. “I also wanted to open things up for our big guys too.” Canada’s mixture of zone and man-to-man defence confused Panama. “Really, our defence was key to our win,” said head coach Ken Shields. “If you hold a team to 62 points, you usually win.” Canada won despite foul trouble. Ronn McMahon and Mike Smrek placed most of second half with four fouls, Bill Wennington and Greg Wiltjer played most of half with three fouls. “We didn’t shoot a good percentage (.440) but neither did they,” said Shields. Panama shot .370. “They had to work hard for every basket.” J.D. Jackson scored 14 for Canada and made a key steal with two minutes remaining that stifled a Panama run. “We’ve got a team that goes 10, 11, 12 deep on a particular night we’ve got guys who can step up when they get into a particular rhythm,” said Jackson, who was 6-6 from the line. “Everybody knows there’s going to be a time when they’ll be called on and that’s good because we don’t have to rely on just one or two guys.” Rautins said hitting the first few shots got him in sync. ‘I haven’t been taking enough shots to get a good rhythm. I really wanted to be more aggressive on offence.”
Canada finishes (2-2) and moves on to quarterfinal match against Venezuela.
In quarterfinals, Canada loses 76-72 to Venezuela. Coach Ken Shields later noted that the failure to qualify for the Olympics left “a bitter taste” in his mouth. “But we’ve got to go on and build a team for the future. We knew this team was old. … We have to get a domestic pro league or we’ll stay behind the rest of the world for a long time to come. We are also the only semi-serious basketball country in the world that doesn’t pay their players. We’re still expecting guys to take time off to play for us. I don’t know if that will get resolved in my time.” Canada trailed 48-31 at the half and rallied to within 74-72 with 25 seconds remaining. But David Turcotte missed the front end of a one and one with 25 seconds on the clock and J.D. Jackson missed a driving layup with six seconds remaining before Carl Herrera beat Turcotte on a jump ball, dashing Canada’s hopes. “It was a 20-minute game and we had to make up 17 points, said Shields. “We did that and got ourselves back in the game with five minutes remaining. In the las two minutes we had our chances to win the game and we just didn’t capitalize on them.” Canada was extraordinarily sluggish in the first half, while Venezuela shot 57 per cent, including 5-6 from beyond the arc. “They kicked our butts in the first half and put us in a hole we never got out of it,” said Shields, disconsolate that Canada failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time since 1972. Venezuela coach Juli Toro said “I am feeling absolute ecstasy. This is the first time that a Venezuelan national team has made it to the Olympics. This is a dream come true.” Forward Gerald Kazanowski said his teammates were left numb. “I don’t think there was a word said in there (the lockers). The guys all sacrificed a helluva lot to be here and not a lot can be said.” Leo Rautins scored 15, including 13 in the second half. Ivan Olivares led Venezuela with 20. Carl Herrera added 18 and Sam Shepard 17.