Venezuela defeats Canada on controversial late call, qualifies for 2016 Olympics

Venezuela defeated Canada in the first of two FIBA Americas Championship semifinals Friday after a controversial call in the waning seconds of the game, effectively punching the victor's ticket to the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

Given the two countries' first head-to-head meeting, it was a closer contest than many expected.

Knotted at 78 apiece with two seconds left in the showdown, Venezuela's Heissler Guillent hoisted his final 3-point attempt of the game, only to see the shot bounce off the side of the rim. A streaking Gregory Vargas caught the Canadians off-guard as he leaped for the offensive rebound. He was unable to come up with the ball. However, the referees called a loose-ball foul on Aaron Doornekamp, who was attempting to box out his own man under the hoop.

The call was controversial, according to FIBA's English-language broadcasters, and Canadian head coach Jay Triano told the Toronto Sun's Ryan Wolstat after the game that he didn't see a foul occur on the play.

Regardless, it sent Vargas to the line with an unimpeded chance to lift his team to triumph and on to the championship game.

He did just that. Making his first free throw, and missing the second intentionally so that Canada would not have enough time to grab the ball and call the timeout, Vargas ostensibly sealed the monumental win for the South American team.

Both teams traded baskets for most of the first quarter with Canadian big man Kelly Olynyk leading his squad, supplying an assortment of attacks both on offense and the defensive boards. He finished the opening stanza with 11 points and two rebounds. By halftime, he'd compiled 18 points and six boards.

Guillent drained a difficult fadeaway 3-pointer from the side of the court as the buzzer sounded, signalling the end of the first half with a score 38-37 in favor of the Venezuelans.

The nail-biting continued through the third and fourth quarters, as neither team led by more than seven points.

Up 75-68 with less than three-and-a-half minutes to go, Canada lost its grip on the game's largest lead.

A series of inopportune missed free throws and fouls by Canada, in conjunction with a few key offensive rebounds by Venezuela, shifted the outcome of the game. Windi Graterol's board with a minute and 18 seconds remaining led to an immediate trey by Guillent, cutting their team's deficit to a single point.

Two made free throws by Guillent, a close-range assist from Andrew Wiggins to Olynyk, and another Guillent bucket brought the score to 78-77 for Venezuela.

Then, with twenty-five seconds on the clock, Andrew Nicholson stood at the charity stripe with an opportunity to give his Canucks the one-point lead.

He missed the first free throw and made the second.

With such late-game lapses, Canada - deemed a favorite to at least make it to the final game of the tournament - will have to suspend its Olympic hopes for the time being.

"Our dreams have been put on hold," Triano said.

The Canadians will now have to use the last-resort qualifying tournament next July as a way to squeeze into the Rio Games.

For the Venezuelans, this semifinals win ensures their first Olympic appearance since 1992.