Belgrade OQT: Dominican Republic barge into semis after routing Gilas

Dominican Republic slammed the door of the Philippine’s hopes of ending a long drought of the Olympics, while keeping their hopes for a debut appearance alive after a masterful 94-67 win to close out group A play at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament Thursday evening (Friday morning, Manila time) in Belgrade.

A second half onslaught saw Melvyn Lopez’s veteran side through to the last four in the most convincing way, pouncing on the weary Gilas side still smarting from their agonizing defeat to hosts Serbia the day before by combining their lethal shooting with their aggressive defense and relentless hustle on both ends of the court in which Tab Baldwin’s squad had no answer from.

The 19^th-ranked Central Americans are looking to move to within a game of reaching international basketball’s premier competition for just the second time as set up their semifinal clash with Italy, who outlasted Puerto Rico 90-83 to win group B earlier in the day.

It was in 2012 where the Dominicans came closest in their first-ever appearance in the Olympics, when the John Calipari-led squad that had NBA vets Francisco Garcia, Al Horford and a then 16-year-old Karl Anthony Towns fell to Nigeria for the final ticket to London.

After being pounded earlier on in the first half, the Dominincans turned up the heat in the third quarter, holding Gilas to just ten points and blew the game open with a crippling 12-0 run to end the penultimate frame.

“Our players played very good defense, deny the wings and get that rebounds,” Lopez said as their key to their win.

Three Dominicans took more than 2/3 of the team’s scoring with veteran Victor Liz leading all players with 23 on 53% shooting, only missing just once on six attempts from beyond the arc. Gelvis Solano added 21 points on 50% clip, including an immaculate 6/6 on free throws as they made all 17 foul shots in the process.

Guard Mike Torres took efficiency to the next level coming off the bench, scoring 20 points in 26 minutes for a game-high PER of 27, adding 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals.

“We play good defense with high intensity,” said the Real Betis stalwart. “We have fun, we enjoy and we play tough. That was the key.”

Combining with their solid shooting day (34/69 for 49%), the Dominicans dominated the much taller Gilas in the defensive stats, as it outrebounded them by seven and broke them apart in steals 14-6 as UCAM Murcia’s Sadiel Rojas joined Solano and Torres in recording three snatches apiece.

Gilas will leave the aforementioned Pionir Hall not with heads down despite the draining defeat, as Jordan Heading led them with 16 markers as they will learn so much ahead of the FIBA Asia Cup which will tip off in August.

THE SCORES:

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 94 – Liz 23, Solano 21, Torres 20, Nunez 13, Francis 5, Rojas 4, Araujo 4, Mendoza 2, Santos 2, Henriquez 0, Feliz 0, Martinez 0

PHILIPPINES 67 – Heading 16, Kouame 10, Sotto 8, Abarrientos 6, Navarro 6, Belangel 6, Baltazar 5, Tamayo 5, Nieto 4, Go 1, Chiu 0

Quarter scores: 23-22, 39-41, 65-51, 94-67
PHOTOS: FIBA