PUR – Vaqueros beat San German, force three-way tie for first place

BAYAMON (BSN) – Vaqueros de Bayamon forced a three-way tie in first place of Baloncesto Superior Nacional by seeing off Atleticos de San German 89-83 on Sunday night.

Bayamon is now tied at the top of the table with Piratas de Quebradillas and Maratonistas de Coamo, all three boasting a 5-2 mark.

Christian Dalmau had 34 points and seven assists, import Terrence Shannon added 24 and 12 rebounds and national team forward Carmelo Lee finished with 15.

San German established their offense inside in the early stages by feeding imports Jaime Lloreda and Mike Harris who combined for 12 of the team's 19 first quarter points.

Bayamon used a more balanced offense, with Shannon accounting for eight points while Dalmau, Lee and Javier Mojica connected from beyond the arc as they led 20-19 going into the second period.

San German stayed with their strategy inside and made some second chance buckets to stay close in the game.

On the defensive end, they forced many turnovers and a basket by Lloreda in the dying seconds of the first half gave Atleticos a 37-36 edge.

Dalmau put Bayamon back in front to start the third quarter and they took a 59-52 advantage into the final frame after Shannon went on a personal 7-0 to end the period.

In the third quarter San German sent out Joey Rodriguez who was a star in the 2011 NCAA Tournament with VCU. He dished out an assist in his first three minutes and was key in an early final quarter rally.

Atleticos answered with a run of eight unanswered points to start the fourt quarter. Harris and Joey Rodriguez, who earlier this month helped Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) reach the NCAA Final Four, spearheaded the spurt which saw them go up 63-59.

However, Dalmau then took over and scored seven consecutive points to put Bayamon up 66-65 lead.

San German didn’t relent and the teams traded the lead two more times.

With the score tied at 74, Robert Traylor gave the hosts the lead from the free-throw line and they stayed in front until the end.

Dalmau had 18 of his 34 points in the final quarter.

Jesse Pellot-Rosa had 16 points in the loss, Donald Copeland added 13 and Jaime Lloreda, Carlos Strong and Mike Harris each finished with 11.

San German dropped to 3-5 in the season and is without a win on the road (0-5).

The league continues on Tuesday as Humacao visits Arecibo, Santurce faces Quebradillas and Guaynabo goes to Coamo.

FIBA