The Dominican Republic men’s basketball team pulled out a hard-fought but sweet 91-84 point victory on Tuesday night over its notorious rival from Puerto Rico, which seeded it in the final of the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games tournament, San Salvador. 2023.
The victory with partials 25-22, 14-24 (39-46 halftime), 20-18, 32-20, obtained sailing almost always against the current, puts the Dominican quintet to dispute this Wednesday the gold medal against the Mexico, who had previously beaten the surprising Nicaragua 83-69, who had slipped into the other semifinal, along with the Dominican Republic in Group A.
The scheduled time for the match for the golden trophy is 7:30 am in El Salvador (9:30 pm in the DR), at the National Gymnasium here as the stage.
Luis Santos led with 21 points by shooting 12-10 from the field (83%); Víctor Liz pushed hard at the end and finished with 16, nine rebounds and four assists; Gerardo Suero with the help of two triples in five attempts, 3-3 from two and in free throws he finished with 15; Jhonatan Araujo 12, plus three sacks; Juan Guerrero scored 11 points and rebounded six times, to add five quisqueyanos with double figures in scoring.
Jean Montero contributed six with 10 assists, the most of the game and very valuable in a defensive game for the Puerto Ricans; five scored Rigoberto Mendoza and Andrés Félix.
Puerto Rico had two men with 20 points in Jorge Pacheco and Dimencio Vaughn; Ángel de León Matías 17, four rebounds, five assists; Arnaldo Toro eight with 14 catches and Jordan Cintrón eight, four rebounds, three scoring passes.
The Dominican threw for 52% (30 of 58) from the field, for 40% of the rival (24 of 60); 35% on shots from behind the arc (8 of 23), by 39% (7/18), on free throws 79 by 66 percent.
Puerto Rico over rebounded 45 to 28, the winners dominated 21-18 in assists and committed 30 personal fouls by 26 of the Borinqueños.
