The canaleros made their debut on Wednesday in the first window of the competition with a 78-69 loss to Nicaraguan Real Estelí, a quarter-finalist in the first edition of the hemispheric tournament the previous year.
The American of Puerto Rican origin and former NBA player, Renaldo Balkman, at the age of 37 led the Pino offensive with 20 units, the same number as that achieved by Puerto Rican Jezreel de Jesús.
For the canaleros, the attack was distributed more evenly between the nationals Ernesto Oglivie (16), Michael Hicks (15) and the Puerto Rican Ángel Matías (13).
It is worth mentioning that forward Hicks is 44 years old and was an inspiring spark plug for the colts for much of the game.
After losing the first quarter (14-17) and tying the second at 16 points, the local quintet signed a third period (22-15) that opened the doors to victory, before scoring another favorable partial (26-24) in the concluding segment.
The reds of northern Nicaragua shot 43 percent effective in close range shots, by 37 of the Panamanian horses, while from the 6.75 meter line of the basket both teams fired a third of their cannon shots.
The biggest difference was in the line of the free throws, from which the hosts missed very little 21-24, for an 88 percent effectiveness, while the channels achieved 64 percentage points.
The game that took place at the Alexis Argüello Sports Center in this capital was the first to be organized by FIBA in the world with public attendance, 70 percent of the capacity according to the organizers’ provisions.
msm / fgn