Dominican wins men’s basketball undefeated and for the fourth time

The men’s basketball team claimed gold at the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games 2023 with a resounding victory of 89 points by 72 (15-17, 23-17, 29-19, 22-19) in the final match against his counterpart from Mexico this Wednesday night at the National Gymnasium in the Salvadoran capital.

This was the 14th gold medal for the Dominican Republic and the historic fourth for men’s basketball, which was previously enshrined in Maracaibo 1998, San Salvador 2002 and Veracruz 2014. In Barranquilla 2018 he barely reached the fourth step.

Point guard Andrés Féliz with 20 points (6-3 behind the arc), seven rebounds, three assists and Víctor Liz 17, six touchdown passes and five catches, led a well-distributed offensive, which included nine from Jean Montero (3 in rebounds and assists) and Gerardo Suero.

Four other players made eight: Luis Santos, Juan Guerrero (2-2 in triples), Antonio Peña (five rebounds) and Jhonatan Araujo. Rigoberto Mendoza contributed five assists and three from the board.

Mexico exerted dominance in the first quarter, but the Dominican Republic squeezed in the last stage of the second to win halftime 38-34 with eight points, five rebounds and two assists from Féliz, seven from Liz, six from Santos shooting from 4- 3 from the field, plus three sacks; five Peña and Araujo. José Gutiérrez and Gabriel Girón scored nine points in the first 20 minutes for Mexico.

In the third period, the formidable cast led by Ernesto -Che- García pulled muscle and overwhelmed the Aztec team, taking an advantage of up to 18 (66-48) that marked the course of the match with the gold medal for Quisqueya and the silver for Mexico.

Puerto Rico took the bronze by beating Nicaragua 79-59 in a match for that metal.

The runners-up had Girón with 13 points, Yahir Bonilla with 12, Gutiérrez 12 with six rebounds, five assists; Moisés Andriassi and Fabián Jaimes eleven per unit.

The champions shot from the field for 51 percent (35/68), for 48% of the silver medalists; 41% behind the arc (13/32) against 32% (6/19). They dominated the painted zone 35 for 32 rebounds and the assists 25 for 19 of the Mexicans.

Basketball settled the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Sports Games 2023 with a gold medal in men’s basketball, silver in women’s after losing the final with the United States Virgin Islands and two separate bronzes in the men’s and women’s 3×3.