6’8 tall L.J. Figueroa of St. John’s University in New York will be playing on the Dominican national team for the first time in the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru from 31 July to 4 August. He joins the team on the heels of what is described as a strong first season in Queens, New York City when he finished third on the team and 14th in the Big East in scoring with 14.4 points per game. His average was good enough for the highest among first-year players in the conference.
The Lawrence, Massachusetts native topped the team and ranked 10th in the league in rebounding with 6.4 boards per outing. He tallied a team-high six double-doubles on the season.
The rising junior now will get a chance to showcase his skills in an international tournament. In the past, Karl Anthony Towns began his international career playing for the Dominican Republic.
In the upcoming Pan Am Games the Dominican Republic is part of Group B that also includes Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico. Puerto Rico, the US, the US Virgin Islands and Venezuela will play their preliminary round in Group A.
Following the Pan Am Games the next important commitment of the Dominican basketball team is the FIBA World Cup 2019, scheduled for China. The Dominican Republic will play Jordan on 1 September at 4:30am (Dominican time) at the Shenzen Bay Sports Center. The World Cup will be played from 31 August to 15 September. The Dominican team is part of Group G. Other teams in that cluster are Jordan, Germany and France. This is only the third time that a Dominican team will play in the World Cup. Previously, the Dominican team played in the Philippines (1978) and Spain (2014).
The tournaments are qualifiers for a ticket to the Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Read more:
Red Storm Sports
Rumble in the Garden
3 July 2019