Flamengo is in the NBB semifinals. With a strong performance, the red-and-black team defeated Uberlândia 77-62 on Friday night (May 11.05) at Tijuca Tênis Clube, closing out the best-of-five quarterfinal series 3-2. Now, the team will face São José in the next round. The first game will be next Tuesday (May 15.05) at Tijuca, with the time yet to be determined. Having finished first in the qualifying round, the São Paulo team will have the home court advantage (three home games).

Caio Torres led the way with 22 points. American David Jackson also stood out with 19, and Marcelinho scored 17.

"We had a great defensive performance, and that was our biggest weapon in today's game. We've been improving on that fundamental, and I think we did everything right today. Now we have to keep working and maintain that same attitude going forward," said Caio Torres.

"We were aggressive defensively and managed to hold off Uberlândia's attack. That made all the difference," Marcelinho added.

After a balanced first quarter, which ended tied at 19-19, Flamengo tightened its defense and didn't let Uberlândia play at the beginning of the second quarter: they scored 12 points in a row, against zero from the opponent (31-19). And the Rubro-negro went into the break winning 39-28, with 12 points from Caio Torres and 10 from Marcelinho.

The pace didn't drop in the third quarter and Flamengo opened up a 20-point lead (59 x 39), closing the set at 68 x 49. Then, it was easy to maintain the lead in the last set and close at 77 x 62.

Flamengo started with: Hélio (9), David Jackson (19), Marcelinho (17), Kammerichs (6) and Caio Torres (22). Entered: Fred (-), Teichmann (-), Duda (-), Hayes (4) and Wagner (-).