Team Canada will play in Thursday’s ninth-place game

OTTAWA, ONT. – Ibrahim Odza poured in a game-high 26 points to lead Canada past Thailand 70-22 on Wednesday at the IWBF Men’s Under-23 World Championship in São Paulo, Brazil.

Team Canada will conclude play at the U23 Worlds on Thursday morning in the ninth-place game against Israel.

Canada never trailed in the win at Centro de Treinamento Paralímpico Brasileiro.

Odza chipped in six rebounds and four assists, while captain Nasif Chowdhury added 17 points and five assists.

Canada shot 52 per cent from the field and held Thailand to just 10 of 36 shooting.

“In the first half, I thought we did a better job of coming back and making a stop and then winning the battle inside the three-point line,” said Team Canada’s Under-23 Head Coach Darrell Nordell. “We still wanted to work on our concepts, our style of play and moving the ball around.

“We were working on our crossing, our picking and sticking, and then trying to get up in transition.”

Canada out-scored Thailand 18-6 in the third quarter to take a commanding 58-20 lead into the final frame.

Team Canada led 40-14 at the break behind Odza’s 20 points, five rebounds, and two assists.

Chowdhury chipped in seven points and three assists as Canada shot 19-of-39 from the field and held Thailand to just 41 per cent shooting in the opening half.

An 18-0 run helped Canada build an early 22-4 lead, and they closed the first quarter up 24-6.

Odza paced the team with 18 first-quarter points on 9-of-12 shooting, while Broden Nagle added four points off the bench.

Simon Mazi-Keep finished with nine points on 4-of-4 shooting in 15 minutes of action as Nordell focused on giving his younger athletes game time in the second half.

“We made a point of playing Mazi-Keep that whole fourth quarter because he’s going to be the future big guy for this next group coming through,” Nordell explained. “We’re only going to be carrying over Ibrahim and Simon, so we wanted to give him some quality minutes so that he knows what it feels like coming into the next U23 Worlds.”

Canada continues play at the U23 Worlds on Thursday against Israel in the 9-10 placing game at 10 a.m. EDT/7 a.m. PDT. The game can be live-streamed on the IWBF YouTube channel.

Team Canada cruised to a 96-37 victory over Israel on Sunday in group play, led by 26 points from Odza.

The IWBF Men’s Under-23 World Championship brings together the top 12 nations. Canada is competing in Group A alongside Australia, Israel, Germany, Türkiye and Brazil.

Traditionally held every four years, the tournament showcases the best young talent in the sport. Athletes must be 22 years of age or younger to be eligible to compete. This year marks the eighth edition of the event. Canada captured back-to-back gold medals in 1997 and 2001.

Complete stats from Wednesday’s game can be found here. The tournament schedule and results can be found here.

Lead photo courtesy Leonardo Lemos.