Egypt Falters After Strong Start, Falls 90-77 to the Dominican Republic in FOQT Opener

Egypt Falters After Strong Start, Falls 90-77 to the Dominican Republic in FOQT Opener

Despite a strong start to their clash against the Dominican Republic at the ongoing Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Greece, Henrik Rodl-led Egypt fell 90-77. Rodl was looking to guide the Pharaohs, as the team is fondly known, to victory in their first match in Group B which has the Dominican Republic and hosts Greece. Each host for the tournament has six teams divided into two groups of three.

Group A also being played in Greece has Slovenia, Croatia and New Zealand.For the qualification, the top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals and the winner of each OQT final will qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, joining these eight teams that have already qualified: France, USA, Canada, Australia, South Sudan, Japan, Serbia and Germany.

Against the Dominican Republic, Egypt started the game on a high, taking an 8-point lead early on but some costly turnovers and a MVP performance from 20-year-old Jean Montero, a graduate of the now famed Overtime Elite Programme, who came off the bench in the first quarter, worked against the African as they went on to lose the game by a 13-point margin.

“The opponent had very solid guards and their center players are good rebounders and they caused us big problems. Some of our turnovers, especially in the second quarter, decided the game as we could not establish ourselves in the game anymore.

We gave it everything, we tried to fight back in the end as that is how my squad is, they fight hard. In the end, however, we were not good enough for the Dominican Republic,” Rodl admitted after the game.

Montero’s speed turned him into a blurry figure that the Egyptian defense was not able to locate and stop, as he tortured them with his drives and offensive rebounds - the 190cm (6ft 3in) tall point guard picked up three offensive rebounds in the first half alone, powering the Dominican Republic to a 27-9 second quarter.

That opened up a 43-31 lead at the half, and coach Che Garcia's players came out of the locker room with another 7-0 run to start the third quarter. There was no coming back from that deficit for Egypt.

He ended the game with 17 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the field, and he also had 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Andres Feliz was also influential as the starting point guard with 9 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Chris Duarte also got into double digits with 14, Victor Liz had 12, Angel Nunez 11.

Egypt who missed the services of former NBA star Abdel Nader who was set to make his debut in Greece as well as experienced Ehab Amin and Assem Marei had Ahmed Metwaly as their top scorer with 24 points, coming off the bench.

“We have some very young players that have never experienced basketball at this level while the Dominican Republic have experience and at some point that is bound to show in some ways and it did with the turnovers in this game. I am, however, disappointed that we didn’t rebound better as it denied us a chance to win or be in the game. We can do this a lot better,” the tactician added.

Watch the Egypt vs Dominican Republic Game Highlights Below

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[Photography / Imagery Courtesy of FIBA]