Cuba, México, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic advance to 2015 FIBA Americas C’ship

The qualifiers are set, now the fight goes on for the medals. After four days of preliminary round action four teams have initially distanced themselves from the rest of the pack at the 2014 Centrobasket tournament.

Four teams remain undefeated so far in the competition with pristine 3-0 records. As expected 2013 FIBA Americas gold medalists Mexico have taken the lead in Group A. They are joined by co-leaders Puerto Rico. In Group B Cuba has fared well thus far and has yet to be downed by an opponent. They share the group lead with reigning champions, the Dominican Republic.

Mexico is coming off back-to-back routs of their opponents. They crushed the Bahamian team 90-57 on Day 3 and then came away with an easy win off El Salvador on Day 4, 107-64. Mexico has gotten some spirited games from Paul Stoll, who has been one of their top performers so far in the competition. He scored 17 and 18 points those games, respectively.

The Dominican team are also on a roll, with their own set of back-to-back victories. They dispatched with Panama on Day 3, 71-56. On Day 4 they were able to come away with a win over Jamaica, 73-68. Both James Maye and Eloy Vargas have had excellent outings for the Dominican squad so far. Vargas was impressive against Jamaica with a team-high 23 points and 10 rebounds.

Group A
Mexico 3-0
Puerto Rico 3-0
U.S. Virgin Islands 1-2
Bahamas 1-3
El Salvador 0-3

Group B
Cuba 3-0
Dominican Republic 3-0
Jamaica 1-2
Panama 1-2
Costa Rica 0-4

Things will change on Day 5 as only two of the aforementioned teams will be able to retain their untarnished records. Cuba will be duking it out with the Dominican Republic, while Mexico will face off against Puerto Rico in what is expected to be an exciting rematch of the 2013 FIBA Americas finals game.