By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Dominican Republic put up a fight, but when the dust settled the best team got to the quarterfinals of FIBA World Cup. Slovenia got the 71-61 win and as usual the duo of Dragic brothers dictated the pace. This time Zoran Dragic with 18 points and some key buckets was the hero of the night, while Goran added 12 points and 6 assists.
After a tie (15-15) in the first quarter, Slovenia got a ten points lead by half time (38-28) and never looked back. Led by James Feldeine who scored 18 points, the losing side tried to stay close and cut the lead to two points (57-55) with six minutes left after a three by Ronald Ramon. However that was they best they could do and their come back was never concluded.
The Slovenians will face Team USA in the quarterfinals and coach Jure Zdvoc is happy for the chance: “As a coach, this was the most important game of my life. I think the players were still worried about what happened against Lithuania. That’s why we were too tense at the start and didn’t look good at all. But I’m happy this game happened so fast. So we can forget what happened and move on”. Zoran Dragic added: “We were overdoing things at the start of the game. And we made too many mistakes. The coach told us to calm down and concentrate on the game at hand”.
Dominican Republic head coach Orlando Antigua was happy for being there: “I’m proud of my team for what they achieved here. For us, coming to the World Cup was an achievement in itself”.