The Leones de Santo Domingo forced a seventh and decisive game by beating the Indios de San Francisco de Macorís 92-78 in the fifth and sixth match of the final series of the National Basketball League held this Wednesday at the Palacio de los Deportes Don Virgilio Travieso Soto of the Olympic Center.
The “Escarlatas”, who tied the final series 3-3, imposed the rhythm of the game from the first period with a hermetic individual defensive approach full court, control of the game and a collective offensive distribution.
At the end of the first half, the Leones led by 11 and with a 23-14 lead in the third period, the locals entered the last quarter with a 20-point lead (74-54).
Reinforcement New Williams led the Lions’ attack with 22 points, 15 of them in the first half, followed by Juan Guerrero, with 15 points and nine rebounds; Eddy Polanco finished with 12 (four triples), while Anthony Chriswell and Kelechi Ajukwa scored 10 each.
For the Indians, Juan Miguel Suero scored 19 with 10 rebounds, Nehemías Morillo had 13, Jerome Frink contributed 11 and PeShon Howard added 10 points.
The quarters ended 31-18, 20-22, 23-14 and 18-24 in favor of the Lions, who shot 46 percent from the field, while dominating rebounds 40-38, as well as assists 20- 17 and turned over nine to 15 for the Indians, who shot 45 percent from the field and finished 30-28 on points in the paint and 27-26 on the bench.
The full-court individual defense from the opening whistle of the first half paid off for the Leones team, who kept the Indios zero from the field for the first 4:52 until Nehemías Morillo converted a three-point shot with 5: 08 to play.
That defensive execution allowed the “Melenudos” to build a 7-0 run, which was lengthened to 13-2 (a pair of free throws by Edward Santana) with 4:54 to play.
The “Reds”, who never saw their advantage, which reached 15 points, in danger, went into the break with an 11-point lead (51-40) after winning the first quarter 31-18 and fell in the second 20- 22.
game 7 this friday
The seventh and last game of the final series will be this Friday, at 8:00 p.m., when the Lions visit the Indios at the Pabellón Mario Ortega in San Francisco de Macorís.
