SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic 鈥� sa国际传媒's men's basketball team is leaving the Dominican Republic with two key wins in the Americas region qualifying tournament for the FIBA World Cup.
Kyle Wiltjer's 25-point performance led sa国际传媒 to a 113-77 win over the Bahamas on Monday for two consecutive wins over the island nation. Wiltjer also led sa国际传媒 with 23 points in Sunday's 115-73 victory over the Bahamas.
鈥淎ny time you play a team like that, an aggressive team like the Bahamas, in a back-to-back situation, (you know they will compete),鈥� said sa国际传媒's head coach Nate Bjorkgren. 鈥淲e had a very thorough film session, detailed walkthrough this morning, that our guys did a very good job of executing when it came to game time.
"That鈥檚 been two days in a row that they鈥檝e shown that unselfish play and the connectivity on the defensive end.鈥�
Wiltjer added five rebounds and two assists for sa国际传媒 (2-0), while Kassius Robertson had 15 points and Phil Scrubb added 13.
Robertson and Scrubb had three three-pointers apiece.
David Nesbitt led the Bahamas (0-2) with 18 points.
sa国际传媒 is in Group C of the qualifiers with the Dominican Republic, U.S. Virgin Islands and Bahamas.
鈥淔ocus is a really big part of this team,鈥� said Bjorkgren. 鈥淚n the week that we spent together, they were very focused right where they stepped foot off the plane from all of the countries where they flew in from. "
sa国际传媒 will next play in the second window of qualifiers which will be held in February.
Eighty national teams are playing across six qualifying windows to secure their place among the 30 teams that will join hosts Japan and the Philippines in the 32-team 2023 FIBA men's World Cup.
In the Americas group, 16 teams will face off over two rounds with the top three in each group and the fourth-placed team qualifying for the World Cup, which in turn is a direct qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The World Cup is Aug. 25 to Sept. 10, 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 29, 2021.
The Canadian Press
