By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
MANILA, Philippines – Overcoming adversity to go through to the next round of the 2023 FIBA World Cup with a 3-0 W-L tally, the Dominican Republic narrowly held on for the 75-67 victory versus Angola in Smart Araneta Coliseum Tuesday.
Joventut Badalona’s Andres Feliz was once again crucial for Nestor Garcia’s team, scoring 17 points with 6 assists while shooting 6/7 from the field and 4/4 at the charity stripe. Victor Liz went close to a double-double with 13 points and eight rebounds.
Delivering double-doubles in back-to-back figures during his first two appearances on the big stage with the Dominican Republic, Karl-Anthony Towns had a pretty flat performance in the win, scoring eight points with two rebounds by spending only 15 minutes on the court due to foul trouble.
“The Dominican Republic is going crazy. Everyone counted us now, and we here”, he said in the post-game press conference. “We are very happy because we finished in the first position in a tough group. My players give the extra, for me Karl-Anthony Towns is the best player in the tournament. In the beginning, we played without him and the team made a lot of effort”, Nestor Garcia commented.
Silvio de Sousa was by far the best player on the Angola team, nearing a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds. “We played great, we gave it all and that’s what matters the most. We stayed together, we believed”, he said in the post-game press conference. His frontcourt teammate Bruno Fernando had 13 points and 3 rebounds but checked out on the receiving end of a fifth personal foul with 5:13 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
“It wasn’t an easy game fundamentals side, because first we wanted to win the game and secondly with more than 10 points. Sometimes anxiety causes some mistakes. This is a good game for us, to learn. We want to play with Towns, our plan was playing with him: we wanted to attack some weaknesses they have when he’s playing. Africa is getting better, we are trying our best”, coach Canals said.
After scoring 15 points in the second game of Group A, Gerson Domingos added 12 against the Caribbeans but couldn’t convert from three (0/5). Overall, all Jose Claros Canals team shot roughly from beyond the arc with 10% (2/21).
With this loss, the Angolan national team is officially out of the second round, being eliminated. They will now fight for a spot in the Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in their next two games remaining.
PHOTO CREDIT: 2023 FIBA World Cup
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