With a firm step, the Venezuelan basketball team closed this Monday with a flourish the fourth qualifying window for the 2023 FIBA World Cup when they defeated the Dominican Republic 76-72.
The quintet led by Fernando Duró felt the need to vindicate themselves and make one of their best matches at the Domo Bolivariano de Barquisimeto, which since 2018 did not have a national team victory.
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The criollos made the visiting team dance to the sound of cuatro and maraca. From the first half, Venezuela played with great speed, thus making one of the rival’s best pieces, Christopher Duarte, uncomfortable.
The tricolors became a double scoring machine, but Jhornan Zamora was the different one in the first quarter, scoring a three-point shot, Venezuela had started the game with the right foot (28-13).
With a solid defense and without stopping, the tricolors never lowered their guard to protect the advantage over the scoreboard, the first half ended with 20 points up, thanks to the good effectiveness of the three-point shots. (51-31).
For the resumption of the game, the Dominican Republic was more aggressive and tried to recover to not return home with a victory. Despite the fact that they scored more points in the fourth section, they were unable to be superior to the Venezuelans (16-27).
Venezuela felt the accelerator of Dominica
In the last block, Venezuela was pressured by the urgent opponent who wanted victory, but fortunately Garly Sojo was one of the jewels of the night and with a basket of three units he managed to distance himself only a little.
Gregory Vargas charged two personal fouls plus two from Sojo, those coached by Duró went up 76-72.
Now with a 7-1 record, the national team is positioned two wins away from getting a ticket to the World Cup.
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For Venezuela, Michael was the top scorer with 12 points, six rebounds and two assists. Escorted by Garly Sojo and Gregory Vargas with 11 points.
As for the Dominican, Victor Liz took the lead with 20 points, two rebounds and two assists.
