THE Dominican Republic completed a 3-0 sweep of its group phase campaign yesterday at the expense of hard-fighting Angola.
The win kept Gilas Pilipinas’ hopes of advancing to the next round alive– barely, at press time last night.
Leaning on a late fourth quarter breakaway, the Dominicana turned back the Black Antelopes 75-67 in Group A play of the 19th FIBA World Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Gilas battled world No. 10 Italy last night needing to prevail by 13 points or more to forge a three-team tie with the Italians and the Angolans at 1-2.
If this happens, the Philippine five, which lost to Angola 70-80 last Sunday, will wind up second in their group and join the Dominican Republic in the second round.
The Italians will clinch a berth in the next round if they beat the Philippines, while Angola will still advance if Gilas beats Italy by less than 12 points.
A Silvio De Sousa slam dunk knotted the count at 65-all with 2:52 to go but the Dominicans went on a telling 10-0 binge capped by Victor Liz’s two free throws that made it 75-65, only 17 ticks left.
With NBA star big man Karl-Anthony Towns saddled with foul trouble, guard Andres Feliz showed the way for the Dominicana with 17 points, on top of six rebounds, and two assists, while Liz added 13 markers and eight caroms.
The Caribbean side went into the match on a high, having scored a stunning 87-82 decision over the Azzurri three nights back.
Dominican Republic coach Nestor Garcia said his team succeeded on its first mission of reaching the second round.
“We’re very happy because we finished first in a tough, tough group,” Garcia said. “Like I said before, my players give their best. We respect Angola because Angola is the best offensive rebounding (team) of the tournament.
“This is our first goal, trying to go to the next round and then, we will see, you know, the World Cup is very difficult. I love this guy (Towns) because he adjusts to the rules, the NBA is different from the FIBA and he’s here, he’s happy every day. My players, they fight hard,” he added.
The Dominican Republic took a 37-32 lead at the half but trailed 49-50 going into the payoff period.
De Sousa paced Angola with 19 points, nine boards, and two feeds, while Bruno Fernando of the Atlanta Hawks had 13 and three.
Gerson Domingos and Jilson Bango also had 12 and 11 markers, respectively, for the Black Antelopes.
