HAMILTON (Canada) – In a homecoming for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, suiting up for Canada for the first time since he was 17 years old, in front of a home crowd as FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, Canada, team Canada aimed to seek redemption from their Olympic Qualifying Tournament results last summer on their way to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, beating Dominican Republic 95-75.

Gilgeous-Alexander would help do exactly that, controlling Canada’s offense and leading them with 7 points in the first quarter, almost half of the team’s 18 in the quarter, with his cousin Nickeil Alexander-Walker stealing the spotlight adding 9 more all from the three-point line, including a buzzer beater to end the quarter.

“There was a little bit of rust to it, but just playing off each other and ultimately playing the game, playing to win turned out to be fun,” said Alexander-Walker.

Dominican Republic was not scared by the home team’s crowd however and responded with pressure to force multiple turnovers that lead to baskets in transition, and Rigoberto Mendoza knew exactly how to keep his team grounded alongside Canada’s fast-paced game – slowing down their offense and not getting flustered by Canada’s physicality was key.

In turn, by staying calm while Canada continued to foul, Dominican Republic found themselves at the free throw line more often than not and managed to take the lead three minutes into the second quarter – flustering Canada and leading to more easy baskets.

Defensively Dominican Republic had trouble deflecting Canada’s ball movements and sharpshooting, but seemingly always had an answer when they came back down the court, taking all one-on-one opportunities to drive the net in hopes of a Canada foul.

Even with Canada controlling defensive possessions and getting back down the court, Canada’s shots would not fall in the second quarter, but a second wind from Kelly Olynyk in the final two minutes of play gave Canada some breathing room to lead by 5 points heading into a Dominican Republic timeout that benefitted Canada most – with Canada slowing down in the final minute of play they lead by 10 going into the half.

Not backing down and taking on Canada’s challenge to beat the to the rim, Dominican Republic continued to play physical as Angel Delgado attempted to lead the comeback charge, but Dwight Powell’s size in the paint had him scoring 7 points through five minutes of play as Canada’s offense increased their gap to 16 points. 

With 15 points in the third quarter, all eyes pointed back to Gilgeous-Alexander as he carried Canada to a 28-point lead heading into the final quarter, and Dominican Republic having no answer for his precision shooting, and the rest of Canada knowing that they can move the ball effortlessly to get it in his hands to score.

“It’s a privilege to play with a guy like that, and we’ve got a lot of them coming through this program now, so you know he’s not alone and its fun to play with, fun to watch, fun to win this and I think everyone here got a treat tonight,” said Olynyk.

As Canada wanted to slow the game down with a heavy lead, Dominican Republic continued to speed up and score in transition with the tandem of Victor Liz and Gelvis Solano playing stealthily on defense to secure long baskets from Liz and posters from Solano to cut Canada’s lead to 21 with just under seven minutes to play.

With each team’s bench getting their share of the action through the final quarter of play as the two teams traded baskets back and forth, the third quarter gap created by Canada was ultimately too much to overcome despite Dominican Republic’s continual effort.

Gilgeous-Alexander ended the night with 32 points, and Olynyk and Alexander-Walker added 17 each in Canada’s hometown victory, and Olynyk secured a double-double with his 11 rebounds in the match. Adonys Henriquez led all Dominican Republic scorers with 14 points and Liz added 12 as well.

“Dominican Republic is a good team with experienced guys, I like how they went for it, they came out in the zone and rolled the dice a little bit to see if we’d make shots,” said head coach Nick Nurse. “It was a really competitive game for us and a really good test, any time we can play against an experienced team that plays that hard we can learn.”

Canada now sits undefeated at the top of Group C with a 5-0 record, having already qualified for the second window after the first four games.

“I think we were feeling each other out to start the game for sure, once we played the right way, played aggressive and trusted each other, we saw the game open up at the end of that second quarter,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.

“It was so fun, knowing that all the people who have seen me grow from when I was in high school to see me play today, it’s something I can describe… it went just how I wanted to.”

FIBA