BARBOSA SCORES 21 IN BRAZIL WIN OVER MEXICO

Leandro Barbosa, the FIBA Americas Championship's leading scorer, had 21 points to lead Brazil to a 104-90 victory over Mexico in the second round Tuesday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Barbosa, the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year with the Phoenix Suns last season, was 8-for-13 from the field in falling just short of his tournament average of 23.8.

Brazil (3-2) pulled away from a 24-24 tie early in the second quarter with an 11-2 run in which Barbosa hit one of his three 3-pointers and made two free throws. The South Americans took a 53-39 halftime lead and led by as many as 32 points.

Romel Beck, who played at UNLV, had 29 points for Mexico (1-4), which again had trouble stopping an opponent. Mexico came into the game allowing an average of 101.2 points per game, last among the eight teams that advanced to the second round.

Brazil took advantage to shoot 57 percent from the field (42-for-74), including 8-for-17 from 3-point range.

Brazil closes second-round play with games against undefeated Argentina and Uruguay. Two wins would virtually guarantee Brazil a spot in the semifinals, and one would have the team in the hunt to win a possible tiebreaker to get into the final four.

• Argentina 85, Canada 70 -- Carlos Delfino scored nine points in Argentina's game-opening 22-4 run as the South Americans improved to 5-0.

Argentina dominated Canada (2-3) from the tip, and the halftime lead was 46-16. Delfino had 12 of his 15 points in the first half, and Argentina held Canada to 25 percent shooting (7-for-28) in the first two quarters, with the North Americans missing 10 of their first 12 and 13 of their first 16.

Luis Scola scored 23 points for Argentina.

• Venezuela 88, Uruguay 79 -- Hector Romero had 35 points and 11 rebounds for Venezuela.

Romero scored six points in the final 44 seconds for Venezuela (1-4), which led 79-67 with 3:25 left only to see Uruguay (2-3) close within one point.

Venezuela finished 13-for-27 from 3-point range, almost double its average of 6.6 3s for the tournament but struggled to score late. It missed five shots and committed a turnover during a two-minute scoring drought that allowed Uruguay to cut its deficit to 79-78 with 1:40 left on a 3-pointer by Leandro Garcia-Mormes.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS