UCI’s Parada to play for Mexico

UC Irvine senior center Adam Parada is a member of the Mexican

national basketball team that will compete in the Americas Olympic

qualifying tournament at San Juan, Puerto Rico, Aug. 20-31.

The tournament at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum features group

play Aug. 20-24, with the second round beginning Aug. 25. The

semifinals are Aug. 30 and the championship game is set for Aug. 31.

Mexico is joined by Argentina, Puerto Rico, Canada and Uruguay in

Group A.

The United States, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and the

Virgin Islands comprise Group B. The top three teams in the

tournament will qualify for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Parada scored 16 points in Mexico’s 78-76 win over the Virgin

Islands June 21 to win the bronze medal in the Central American

Championships. Puerto Rico won that tournament with a 93-83 victory

over the Dominican Republic.

Parada earned All-Big West Conference second-team honors as a

junior at UCI last season. He led the conference in field-goal

percentage at .545 and he is the Anteaters’ career leader in blocked

shots with 111. Parada averaged 12.2 points and 6.2 rebounds in

2002-03, when UCI finished 20-9 overall for its third straight 20-win

season.

The Anteaters open the 2003-04 regular season competing in the

Black Coaches Association Classic at Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 15-17.