Tremont Waters led the Puerto Rican national team to another victory at the FIBA World Cup. They defeated the Dominican Republic 102-97.
The Dominican Republic suffered their first loss at the FIBA World Cup. In the opening game of Group I, they had a 14-point lead in the first quarter, but Puerto Rican players managed to tie the score at 45-45 by halftime.
In the second half, the Dominican Republic built an 11-point lead and seemed poised to secure their fourth victory. However, Tremont Waters of Puerto Rico had other plans, especially with his excellent performance in the closing minutes, leading his team to their third win.
Waters finished the game with 37 points, George Conditt contributed 18, and Jordan Howard added 11. On the other side, Karl-Anthony Towns had a fantastic performance with 39 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Andres Feliz with 22 points.
The Dominican Republic will play their next game on Sunday at 2:00 PM against Serbia, while Puerto Rico will face Italy. All teams in this group have three wins and one loss, so it’s clear that the winner advances while the loser goes home.
PUERTO RICO GAVE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC THEIR FIRST L π₯#FIBAWC x #WinForPuertoRico π΅π·
— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 π (@FIBAWC) September 1, 2023
Puerto Rico had a much better start to the game. After just four and a half minutes of play, the Dominican Republic’s coach called a timeout as Puerto Rico led 12-4. Both teams had difficulty scoring, not due to outstanding defense from their opponents but simply due to missed shots. After 10 minutes of play, the score was 17-12 in favor of Puerto Rico.
Then came the opposite second quarter.
Puerto Rico quickly gained a double-digit lead, leading 25-15, and the Dominican Republic’s coach called a second timeout. It didn’t help much as Puerto Rico played zone defense and rapidly extended their lead to 37-14.
The Dominican Republic looked poor at that moment, but they soon started hitting three-pointers, played better defense, scored easy points, and went on a run to close the gap to 43-40.
Then, in the closing moments, a three-pointer by Andres Feliz tied the game at 45-45. The Dominican Republic had an impressive 15 assists from their bench, led by the energetic coach Nestor Garcia.
Riding the momentum from their strong finish in the third quarter, the Dominican Republic continued their resurgence at the start of the fourth. They completed the comeback and took their biggest lead of 57-50 after Lester Quinones hit his eighth three-pointer of the game, but he also committed his third personal foul and had to go to the bench.
Nevertheless, even without him, the Dominican Republic extended their lead to 67-57 after Karl-Anthony Towns made free throws. Going into the final 10 minutes, the score was 74-69, and the Dominican Republic’s star player had amassed 29 points.
Puerto Rico started the last quarter strong, closing the gap to 74-72. Towns, as expected, took responsibility and halted their attack, pushing his team ahead 79-74. Puerto Rico didn’t give up, and they turned the game around to lead 86-84 after a three-pointer by George Conditt. Then the ball went to Towns, who responded with a three-pointer to make it 87-86. After that, it was a ‘basket-for-basket’ game.
The Dominican Republic had a 95-93 lead, but then Tremont Waters and John Holland combined for a mini-run, putting Puerto Rico ahead 98-95 with 30 seconds left. The ball went to Towns, who attempted a three but missed. On the other end, Waters made the shot and secured the victory for his team.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC β PUERTO RICO 97:102 (12:17, 33:28, 29:24, 23:33)
Arena: βAraneta Coliseumβ, Manila;
Referees: Locatelli, Noujaim, Paralta
Dominican Republic:Β Pena 3, Mendoza , Montero 12, Solano 3, Liz 1, Feliz 22, Vargas, Delgado 2, Suero, Figueroa 2, Quinoes 13, Anthony Towns 39p, 10 sk.
Puerto Rico:Holland 6, Pineiro 10, Conditt 18, Howard 11, Thompson Jr. 2, Ford 2, Reyes, Romero 6, Ortiz 10, Toro Barea , Waters 37, Thompson.