Dominican Republic vs. Slovenia: FIBA World Cup 2014 Score and Twitter Reaction
After the United States and France became the first two teams to advance to the 2014 FIBA World Cup quarterfinals, the Dominican Republic and Slovenia took the court in an effort to follow suit. While the match was close early, Slovenia proved to be too much to handle, defeating the Dominican Republic by a score of 71-61.
Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic tweeted the end result:
Things remained even through the first quarter of action. Both teams put up 15 points during the game's first 10 minutes; however, the points were scored in completely different fashions. Slovenia remained in control for most of the quarter, but inefficient three-point shooting prevented them from taking an early lead. The Dominican Republic didn't take near as many shots as its opponent, but took advantage of opportunities in the paint and free throws.
The second quarter remained relatively the same for the Dominican Republic. The team remained solid on the interior, connecting on five of its seven attempts down low, but a lack of scoring opportunities limited it to just 13 points.
Slovania struggled early in the second quarter, and found itself down by a score of 26-19 with just under six minutes remaining in the half. That's when Uros Slokar began to take over. He started the rally by bucketing back-to-back jumpers and followed them up with a three a few minutes later. That sparked his team to go on a 19-2 run to end the half.
Eurohoops.net tweeted one big reason for Slovania's success before the half:
The Dominican Republic regrouped in the third quarter, focusing on its interior shooting to come away with 20 points. Slovenia settled for too many jumpers, and off-target shots led to just 16 points. This tightened the game to a six-point Slovenian lead heading into the final quarter.
Sportando commented on the Dominican Republic's nice third-quarter run:
In the game's final quarter, the Dominican Republic started strong—a four-point run got the team within two points of Slovenia. After the teams traded three-pointers, Goran Dragic nailed a jumper to increase his team's lead to four, and Zoran Dragic remained stout on the defensive end of the court.
Zach Lowe of Grantland.com tweeted his impression of Zoran late in the game:
After some errant shooting from the Dominican Republic, the game quickly turned in Slovenia's favor. Some late-game three-pointers were attempted by Ronald Ramon and Co. in a last-ditch effort to get back into contention, but it was too little, too late for the Dominican Republic, as it fell to Slovenia and was eliminated from the tournament.
Shooting guard James Feldeine kept things close for the Dominican Republic on Saturday. He was extremely efficient from the floor, connecting on 8-of-14 attempts for a team-high 18 points while adding eight rebounds and three assists.
Zoran and Goran Dragic were the stars of the Slovenian team once again. The brothers combined for 30 points, five rebounds, seven assists and five steals. Both shot at least 50 percent from the floor.
While the win was huge for Slovenia, it now moves on to the quarterfinals and a date with the dominant United States. Basketball Buzz tweeted what is on Slovenia's horizon:
No team has been able to come close to taking down the Americans to this point in the tournament, and if Slovenia is to force an enormous upset, it will need huge performances from the Dragic brothers.
We'll see if Slovenia can take down the basketball juggernaut known as the United States on Tuesday.
All stats via FIBA.com.
