Brazil used a 19-0 run with 3 minutes, 21 seconds left in the first quarter to beat Latvia 94-69 in the first of four final games in the men's basketball qualifying tournament on Sunday and book a spot in the Paris Olympics.
Bruno Caboclo led Brazil with 21 points and Leo Meindl added 20. Caboclo hit a 65-foot 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter. Brazil made 8 of 8 3-pointers in the quarter to take a 34-11 lead and stunned the home crowd in Riga, Latvia.
Rijhard Lomas scored 15 points for Latvia, while Rolands Smits and Arturs Zagars each had 14 points.
Brazil will play in Group B at the Olympics, facing France (July 27), Germany (July 30) and Japan (August 2) in their opening matches. The final three spots for the 12-team Olympic berth will be decided later Sunday, with Croatia visiting Greece, the Bahamas visiting Spain and Lithuania visiting Puerto Rico, with the winners of those matches also heading to Paris.
Those already qualified for Paris are the four-time gold medal winners United States, France, Germany, Japan, Serbia, South Sudan, Canada and Australia. France qualified as the host nation, while the other seven teams on that list did so based on their performances in last summer's World Cup.
Following the conclusion of the World Cup, 24 teams will compete for the final four spots, which were determined through winner-take-all qualifying that began last week.
