Trio of scorers power Canada past Greece in opening game of FIBA Olympic qualifier

Led by the strong play of Andrew Wiggins, R.J. Barrett and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Canada started its quest to qualify for the Olympics with a 97-91 victory over Greece Tuesday night in Victoria.

The Canadians trailed by as many as eight points in the first half but mounted a charge in the last two quarters to start the event with a crucial win.

Wiggins finished with a game-high 23 points, Barrett finished the game 22 with and Alexander-Walker racked up 18 points.

There were no fans in attendance inside the 7400-seat Victoria Memorial Arena creating an almost eerily quiet atmosphere at moments throughout the game — there were a number of times head coach Nick Nurse could be seen trying to fire up his players and staff on the sidelines, looking to ignite energy and excitement throughout his team.

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It’s a roster loaded with talent for Canada including eight active NBA players. But it was always going to be about team chemistry going into this international event that would lead to success for Canada. It was a slow start.

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Missed shots, turnovers and lacklustre play defensively plagued Canada early and Greece made the Canadians pay.

Greece took a 50-46 lead into halftime.

But the break seemed to spark the Canadians, as head coach Nick Nurse refocused the squad for the final 20 minutes.

“We knew Greece was a good team and well-oiled. I thought we did a job hanging in there. We have to execute better defensively,” Nurse said.

Canada looked like a different team in the second half — the ball movement was better, Canada was solid defensively and Barrett and Wiggins decided to take charge.

A Wiggins’ three-pointer with 3:43 left in the third quarter gave Canada their first lead of the game. They would increase their lead to five by the end of the third, outscoring Greece 28-21 in the frame.

The Canadians continued to pour it on, building an eight-point lead with 8:35 remaining in the game. It forced Greece to call a timeout but they were never able to recover.

Canada proved to be too strong down the stretch, their depth and talent out-matching Greece.

Nurse has called this the “golden age” for Canadian basketball — no doubt there’s a lot of talent on the court. They took their first step towards qualifying for Tokyo and worked through a sluggish start as a team to finish strong to get the opening win.

Canada now plays China on Wednesday. Should they win they’ll place first in the group and advance to Saturday’s semifinal. The other group includes Turkey, Uruguay and Czech Republic.

Only the winning nation at this event will qualify for the 12-team event in Tokyo.