RECIFE (Brazil) - Despite being one of the two third-place teams to advance to the Quarter-Finals, Dominican Republic proved they belonged at the FIBA AmeriCup as they pressured host nation Brazil but eventually fell to the home team 80-68.

In another back and forth game between two evenly matched teams, Dominican Republic got the best of a Brazil team that has started slow all competition, getting a one basket edge 20-18.

The second quarter was even closer as Brazil tried to claw back the lead, but Dominican Republic out scoring them by one point gave Dominican Republic a 37-34 lead going into the half.

Dominican Republic’s defense kept them ahead at the half as they held all Brazil scorers under 10 points, with Marcelinho Huertas leading Brazil with 9 points.

For Dominican Republic, Jeromy Rodriquez had rallied for 10 points by the half while Andres Feliz added 8 points and 4 assists.

Angel Delgado added 5 points and 5 assists as Dominican Republic had a dominant effort with four players scoring 5 or more points.

Sloppy play that caused turnovers allowed Dominican Republic to get easy baskets and stay ahead in the game, and when they dominated in the paint they were too much for Brazil to handle.

But as Brazil has done all competition, they found their rhythm in the second half, and outscored Dominican Republic 21-14 in the third quarter to take a 4-point lead of their own, but as Dominican Republic grabbed back 3 points, the score was tied 55-all going into the final ten minutes of play.

Yagos Santos and Cristiano Felicio both tallied 9 points by the end of the quarter, finding their scoring late in the game to help Brazil’s resurgence, but it was their dominance on the boards that helped them get back into the game.

Brazil played their toughest defense yet holding Dominican Republic to just 13 points as they soared to a 12-point lead that would seal the game as they moved onto the Semi-Finals in front of their home crowd.

Felicio finished the game with 16 points while Huertas finished with 15, and Rodriguez and Feliz both tipped in 14 despite Dominican Republic running out of gas to end the game.

FIBA