Juan Guerrero scored 26 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, in the victory of the Leones de Santo Domingo 88-85 over the Indios de San Francisco de Macorís, during a game held at the Mauricio Báez Club corresponding to the National Basketball League (LNB) .
Guerrero shot 11-20 from the field and gave two blocks for the Leones (8-6), who also had 15 points from Eddy Polanco and 13 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists for Eulis Báez.
In the match, Manuel Fortuna climbed to the first place in triples in the history of the LNB, when he made a basket from behind the arc with 7:57 of the second quarter, which was his three-point shot number 396, displacing Kelvin Peña (395).
For the Indians (8-6), Adonis Henríquez contributed 24 points, Breein Tyree was “limited” to 16, Juan Miguel Suero had a double-double of 14 points and 10 assists and Kavell Bigby-Williams was not far behind with 11 in annotation and 12 boards.
Leones and Indios must now wait for the winner of the second hour match between the Soles de Santo Domingo Este (7-6) and the Titanes del Distrito Nacional (7-6) to find out their final positions in the Regular Series.
Suero gave the Indians a one-point lead (85-84) with 2:04 left after scoring a layup. The Lions regained command 86-85 with a basket by Kelechi Ajukwa subtracting 1:48. The visitors had a chance to go ahead with 52 seconds left, but Bigby-Williams missed two free throws.
Polanco put the game by three (88-85) by getting one of two free throws with 0:08 left, leaving the stage for the francomacorisans to try to equalize. However, Yeikson Montero missed a shot from three at the last second, escaping the Reds with victory.
The Lions shot 51 percent to the Indians’ 44 percent. They were superior 48-34 in points in the paint and 23-12 in scoring off the bench. The visitors dominated the rebounds 42-34 and shot 22-11 in triples (50%), against 22-8 (36%) of the hosts.
In the first quarter, the Indians erased a 9-point difference and dominated the quarter 25-22. Tyree and Suero scored 6 points each for the Northeast, while the Leones had Polanco as leader with 7.
With 3:23 left in the second quarter, the Indians took a 7-point lead (41-34) after a triple by Henríquez. In the last second of the period, Suero scored two near the rim and the first half was 51-45 in favor of the francomacorisanos.
Henríquez scored 14 points, Suero 10 and Tyree 9 in the first 20 minutes for the Indios, while Guerrero and Báez, with 12 and 10 points each, led the Leones.
The red team was up 65-64 with 3:17 of the third quarter, when Guerrero scored a layup. The Indians tied it 69-69 on a 3-pointer by Montero with 0:20 left, but José Fortuna hit a free throw with 0:02 remaining that gave the locals a 70-69 lead.
The quarters concluded 22-25, 23-26, 25-18 and 18-16 for the Lions.
Knockout stage starts in July
Due to the pause due to the commitments of the national basketball team, the LNB will stop until Wednesday, June 6, the date on which the elimination phase of the first division circuit will begin.
