The Mexican basketball team suffered a defeat in the last quarter, but this Monday defeated the Dominican Republic 80-73 in overtime in the second day of Group C of the qualification tournament for the Americup Nicaragua 2025.
Paul Stoll led Mexico’s attack with 16 points, seven of which were in overtime. Victor Liz was also best for the Dominicans with 16.
Last Friday, in the first game of the series between the two countries, the Dominican Republic overcame less and won 84–73 in the final quarter.
This Monday, history seems to be repeating itself as once again Mexico dominated the first three periods and the Dominicans tied in the last, this time with 66 points.
With the win in extra time, the locals moved up to third in Group C with one win and one loss, behind the Dominican Republic, which has a similar campaign but a better points difference. Leader Canada has two wins.
In the first quarter, Mexico took advantage of 10 consecutive unanswered points from the Dominicans and led by Fabián Jaimes’ nine points to win 22–10 in a first quarter in which the Dominicans shot only 26.6 percent.
The Mexican defense was key in the result, as in addition to good perimeter defense against their opponents, they also did not give up control in the paint.
The Caribbeans did not find success in the second period, while the Mexicans produced another good performance from their defense in the painted zone and an attack led by Gael Bonilla’s six points allowed them to go ahead 40–25 at halftime.
The Dominicans tried to come into the game with three-pointers, but out of seven attempts, they only sent two into the basket.
In the third set, Mexico continued to put good pressure on the Dominican shooters and with a focused attack in the paint they went into the final 10 minutes with a 51–39 lead.
The Dominicans bet on converting their rivals’ losses into points, thus gaining 10 points, but they were not enough to get close to the scoreboard.
In the final quarter, the Dominican Republic found the formula to neutralize Mexico’s defense and took control of the painted zone for the first time in the game, scoring 16 points.
Liz was the best in the Caribbean, scoring 11 points, the last of them converting a crucial penalty shot to tie the game 66–66 with just 17 seconds remaining and force the game into overtime.
The game remained even in overtime and was defined by a triple by Paul Stoll with 56 seconds remaining and the locals played good defense for most of the game, making the final score 80–73.
In the second window of the 2025 AmeriCup qualifiers, which will be played next November, both the Mexicans and the Dominicans will visit Canada and Nicaragua in Group C activity, with two tickets to the AmeriCup in contention because Nicaragua, being the host, has already is one of the dice.