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Canada, who had dominated the tournament by winning each
contest by 17 or more points, fell 79-78 in the semifinals to a
Venezuelan team without any NBA players, fully aware a win would
lock up a place in Rio.
Now they will have to try to get through via a qualifying
tournament next year, against potentially much tougher European
competition.
Venezuela came back from a seven-point deficit late in the
contest to win on a free throw from Gregory Vargas with three
tenths of a second left after Aaron Doornekamp was called for a
foul.
Boston Celtic center Kelly Olynyk led all scorers with 34 points
and added 13 rebounds for Canada but it was not enough when
combined with an off night for Andrew Wiggins, who managed just
nine points and multiple turnovers.
The world champion United States, host Brazil, Australia,
Nigeria, Venezuela and fellow FIBA American semifinal winners
Argentina have now locked up half of the Rio field.
(Reporting by Ben Everill in Los Angeles; editing by Sudipto
Ganguly)
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