The Canadian Senior Men’s National Team have clinched a spot in the FIBA AmeriCup 2022 with a 95-90 victory over the U.S. Virgin Islands on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 20.
It was the second consecutive win by Canada.
Canada 🇨🇦 defeats U.S. Virgin Islands 🇻🇮 95-90 to advance to the FIBA @AmeriCup 2022.@KazaKajamiKeane with a team-high 27 points in the win for Canada.#WeAreTeamCanada #StandOnGuard #AmeriCup pic.twitter.com/Jhb6dXwtec
— Canada Basketball (@CanBball) February 20, 2021
“Our goal was to come down here, win both games, and clinch the spot, and that’s what we’ve done,” head coach Gordie Herbert said.
“We knew Virgin Islands play really good basketball, give them credit. We played two very tough games, but give our players a lot of credit (too). We faced a lot of adversity and we showed a lot of mental toughness dealing with it. I think this will make us stronger going forward.”
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Canada was led by Kaza Kajami-Keane’s 27-point, nine-assist effort in the win, while Anthony Bennett added 19 points and Johnny Berhanemeskel made all three of his three-point attempts in the final 5:25 of the game.
In addition to qualifying for the FIBA AmeriCup 2022, Canada will now begin the path to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games in November when the FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers are begin.
Canada was scheduled to play a pair of games against Cuba, but the schedule was adjusted after Cuba’s failure to reach San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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Also on the roster was Langley’s Jadon Cohee, a 6’3″ guard with the UBC Thunderbirds basketball team, was a player on the Walnut Grove Gators team that took the Fraser Valley senior boys AAA championship final in 2013, the first Fraser Valley senior boys basketball championship in school history.
Cohee, who finished with 21 points, was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
More recently, Cohee was named the U SPORTS male athlete of the month in March of 2020 for his key role in propelling the T-Birds to their first Canada West conference title since 2013, and their 10th in program history.
He averaged 22.8 points per game over a pair of regular season and three playoff contests, capped off by a monstrous performance with 24 points and five assists while playing in all 40 minutes the CW final.
Cohee finished the CW playoffs with the second most points (63) and second most three-pointers (8) while logging more minutes than any other player.
UBC went on to capture the bronze medal at the U SPORTS Final 8 Basketball Championships in Ottawa, defeating the Western Mustangs in the-third place game.
Cohee was one of six athletes named to the senior men’s national team roster for the third and final “window” of the FIBA AmeriCup 2022 Qualifiers.
Team Canada were tested daily for COVID-19, along with other measures to protect the health and well-being of the athletes, coaches and staff.
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