MA NILA (Philippines) - Who needs a superstar? Dominican Republic's NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns was saddled with foul trouble but the Caribbean nation became the first team from Group A to advance to the Second Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 after defeating Angola 75-67.

The Caribbeans were paced by Andres Feliz with 17 points in the first ever matchup between these teams to improve to 3-0 in the group while Angola fell to 1-2. Dominican star big man Towns was limited to just 8 points as he picked up 3 fouls in the first 4 minutes of the game and had just 3 points through three quarter.

Game Highlights:

Turning Point: Despite seeing Towns miss time, the Dominican Republic opened a 15-point lead in the second quarter. Angola fought their way back into the game in the third quarter, which went back and forth. The Dominicans could not pull away and the game was knotted 65-65 before they got four defensive stops and Towns and Jean Montero both made two free throws in a 10-0 run to lead 75-65.

TCL Player of the Game: The Dominicans really did a good job sharing the ball and Andres Feliz was the top scorer and earned the TCL Player of the Game award - for a second time. The guard tallied 17 points and added 6 rebounds and 2 assists.

Stats Don't Lie: Dominican Republic shot 59 percent on two-pointers while holding Angola to just 2-of-21 (10 percent) from long range. The Africans also struggled from the line with just 15-of-28 free throws (54 percent).

Bottom Line: Dominican Republic can now look forward to the Second Round and facing two teams from Group B regardless of what happens in the second game of the day between Philippines and Italy. Angola are relegated to Classification 17-32 where they will hope to fight for a spot in the 2024 Olympic Qualifiying Tournaments.

They Said: "We are very happy because we finished in the first position in a tough, tough group. My players give their all. We are not just one player. He (Towns) is the leader, for me he's the best player of the tournament. Also because of the way he has acted with the team. When we played without him, the team made a lot of effort. We respect Angola because they are the best offensive rebounding team here. They are very aggressive, very athletic. They want to qualify. This was a very difficult game. We are in the top 16. This was our first goal - try to go to the next round. And then we will see. The World Cup is very difficult. I love this guy (Towns) because he is trying to adjust to the different rules. He's here and happy every day. My players fight. We have a big chance to step up. We have overcome a lot of situations. So I am really really happy." - Dominican Republic coach Nestor ‘Che’ Garcia

"We got the win and Dominican Republic is going crazy right now. We have a special team. Everyone counted us out and didn't think we could be great. But in practice with one of the best coaches in the world with 'Che' (Garcia) we believed that we could do something amazing. I think the world is going to notice now. From the bottom of my heart, all of the Dominican Republic needs to send their gratitude and love to Coach Che. Because without him I don't think any of this is possible." - Dominican Republic power forward Karl-Anthony Towns

"I'm just grateful. This is amazing. (Going 3-0 in the First Round of a World Cup)  has never been done in our country. I'm just proud of this team. We've been battling through a lot. We were counted out. This is huge. Many people had us not making the Second Round but here we are finishing at the top of the group. I'm humbled we're able to do that." - Dominican Republic guard Andres Feliz

"Towns got in foul trouble today but everybody knows their role. He will not be there every day and stuff like this can happen. Somebody has to step up and we did a good job when he was on the bench today. I am known for fighting against the other team's big guys. Today was a tough one because they were really tough today. They showed a lot of aggressiveness. But the most important thing is that we fought until the end and got the win."- Dominican Republic power forward Angel Delgado

"It's clear that it was not an easy game from the mental side because first we wanted to win the game and secondly that we wanted to win the game by more than 10 points. This gives you extra tension, extra motivation and sometimes results in you making some mistakes. But the players fought the whole game. This is a good game for us to learn. We tried to play very big - sometimes with three very big guys. Then we had some mistakes defensively. Our intensity went down more than I like. We also missed so many free throws and didn’t have a good night shooting from outside. At the end, the other team scored 26 free throws. And we missed 13. That is a big difference and it hurt us a little bit." - Angola coach Pep Claros

"We played great. We gave it our all. That's the thing that matters most. We stayed together and believed and that's the thing that we will continue to do." - Angola power forward Silvio De Sousa

Press Conference

The game report will be updated shortly. Check back soon for Game Highlights and They Said.

FIBA