The home crowd at Mexico City's Palacio de los Deportes was left happy after the 66-58 triumph which backed up their 84-66 opening night victory over Dominican Republic.

Real Madrid power forward Gustavo Ayon was the star of the show for the Mexicans, the defending champions, as he helped himself to 27 points and 13 rebounds.

Brazil now have one victory and two defeats from their opening three games but still sit second, while in the group's other match there was a first success for Dominican Republic, who defeated Panama 83-66.

Panama had opened their tournament by seeing off Uruguay but were second best in their second match, especially in the first and last quarters which they lost 26-16 and 19-5 respectively.

Dominican Republic join Brazil in having two defeats and a victory to their name and are third, while Panama, with one win and a defeat but a game in hand, are fourth.

Uruguay have the same record as Panama but sit bottom of the pile as things stand on points difference.

In Group B, Venezuela made it two wins from two thanks to a 74-63 win over Puerto Rico.

The Venezuelans trailed 22-20 at the end of the first quarter but they turned things round to lead 43-37 at half-time before closing out the victory.

They join Argentina, who did not play today, with a 100 per cent record so far but move above them to go top on points difference.

Puerto Rico are third with one victory and two defeats to their name.

In the group's other game, rock bottom Cuba have now lost all three of their matches after a 101-59 thrashing at the hands of Canada.

Philadelphia 76ers shooting guard Nik Stauskas and Minnesota Timberwolves man Andrew Wiggins each chipped in with 15 points for the Canadians who racked up their first victory at the second attempt.

They now sit fourth in the table ahead of the Cubans.

As well as continental glory, qualification places for next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro are up for grabs in Mexico City.

The two sides to reach the final will book their place, unless Olympic hosts Brazil are one of them which will lead to the third placed side earning a berth at Rio 2016.

The opening round features two groups of five with the top four in each advancing to the second round group.

From there, the top four teams will progress to the semi-finals.

Tomorrow's games are due to see Uruguay play Dominican Republic and Panama face Mexico in Group A, while in Group B Argentina play Cuba and Canada face Venezuela.

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