It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win at last. Ángel Delgado and Eloy Vargas achieved double doubles and the Dominican Republic team beat Panama 70-61 at the start of the second round of the FIBA qualifying windows for the 2023 World Cup.
Another horrible night from the triple, which included NBA Chris Duarte and a very poor handling of the ball, the Dominicans were able to get the victory in a Palacio de los Deportes Virgilio Travieso Soto filled to capacity and that was attended by former national teams Francisco García and Charlie Villanueva.
With all the expectations created, those trained by Melvin López recorded one of the performances Pyrrhic in a victory that can be remembered.
Only the work of the tall men, Delgado with 18 points and 11 rebounds, despite leaving with a sprained ankle in the last quarter, and Vargas, with 12 points and 10 rebounds, including six important ones in the last quarter when the locals were able to take off on the scoreboard.
Duarte, in his long-awaited debut, recorded 11 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and two steals, but he shot 3-for-12 from the field, including 0-for-8 from 3-point range.
Rigoberto Mendoza came off the bench to contribute nine points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Captain Victor Liz had six points, four rebounds and three assists, but he made just two of 11 shots from the field and went 0-for-4 on 3-pointers. In total, the Dominicans went 3-for-23 in sets of three and they committed 22 turnovers.
The Panamanians, who took the lead early in the third quarter, were led by Akil Mitchell’s 19 points and 9 rebounds, Jhivvan Jackson’s 15 points with three triples and Eric Romero’s nine points and four rebounds. Panama went 6-30 from three-pointers with 21 turnovers.