Belize lost their captain and star shooting guard, Darwin Carter, early in the game to injury. His loss impacted the team?s performance tremendously. Kenton Paulino, along with his Belizean teammates, worked hard to pick up the slack and, despite being undermanned, overpowered and undersized, played inspired ball. While the results may be hard to digest for Belizean fans, their collective performance does gives Belize hope in spite of the huge task ahead, that is, of winning two in Mexico.

Kenton Paulino 19 points followed by Englebert Cherrington with 9 points led Belize?s scoring, while the Mexicans once again had 5 players in double figures with Enrique Zuniga and Victor Mariscal leading the way with 17 points each, followed by Horacio Llamas and Miguel Ayala with11 points each.