Music: {allcanada} Canada comes up short

Saturday, August 28, 2010

{allcanada} Canada comes up short

IZMIR, Turkey -- Canada opened the basketball world championships with 81-71 loss to Lebanon on Saturday.

Canada had a 58-57 lead going into the fourth quarter but Matt Freije nailed a three-pointer to put Lebanon up 66-64 with about five minutes left, and Canada never led again.

"For our team to be successful, we cannot be out-hustled in a game," Canada coach Leo Rautins said.

Montreal's Joel Anthony, who plays for the Miami Heat, paced the Canadians with 17 points and six rebounds, while Vancouver's Levon Kendall had a game-high 11 boards. Toronto's Denham Brown added 13 points and six assists.

Fadi El Khatib scored 31 points to lead Lebanon. In the third quarter, the six-foot-six El Khatib scored 16 points, making all five field goal attempts and three free throw attempts.

Lebanon, which is making its third consecutive worlds appearance, shot 21 more free throw attempts than Canada.

"It was a very tough, very tough game," said Lebanon's Rony Fahed. "Both teams were playing very physical."

Canada hadn't qualified for a major tournament since finishing 13th at the 2002 worlds in Indianapolis, Indiana. Its next Group D opponent is Lithuania on Sunday.

Lithuania beat New Zealand in its opener on Saturday.