Closing out the best-of-five series, the team from Brasilia, Universo, beat Minas Tenis 112-102 and won the semifinal of the men's basketball tournament by three games to one on Sunday.
Thus, Universo, coached by Lula Ferreira, is looking for their second title in as many years. This is the second consecutive year that Universo has defeated Minas in the semifinals.
However, they will be facing the team with the best regular season record: Flamengo, from Rio de Janeiro.
"We knew that we were facing a tough Minas team. Nevertheless, we were able to close out the series at home. Now we will be facing Flamengo, which will be a very difficult series," said Arthur, the game's leading scorer with 28 points.
Already invited to the Brazilian national team in their hunt for an Olympic spot in the Beijing Games, Arthur was a member of last year's championship team at Universo.
However, the team lost two star players from last year's roster. Nezinho and Alex Garcia left the team after last year and were replaced by Valtinho and Ratto. The finals are scheduled to begin early next week.
Source: Xinhua
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