Canada cruises past Dominican Republic to open men’s basketball AmeriCup qualifier
Former NBA player Andrew Nicholson had 16 points and seven rebounds to lead Canada’s men’s basketball team to an 89-72 win over the Dominican Republic on Friday in the opener of their FIBA AmeriCup 2021 qualifying tournament.
Phil Scrubb had 14 points and Kaza Kajami-Keane added 12 for the Canadians.
Victor Liz led the Dominicans with 18 points and Eloy Vargas had 16.
The Dominican team started the game strong, leading 22-17 after the first quarter and 40-35 at halftime.
But Canada outscored its opponent 30-18 in the third quarter to head into the final frame up 65-58.
The FIBA AmeriCup 2021 qualifiers feature 16 teams from the Americas zone divided into four groups. Teams play each other twice, home and away, during the qualifying phase with three windows set for Feb. 21-24, 2020, November 2020 and February 2021.
