Outside of the Olympic Games, the FIBA World Cup is the most important tournament in basketball.
The Dominican Republic won both of its qualifier games (versus USA and Nicaragua) in the Window 2 of the Americas Qualifier for the FIBA World Cup. The DR wins ensured the team moves to the second phase.
The DR shocked the basketball world. On 27 of February 2026, coinciding with Independence Day in the Dominican Republic, the senior basketball team left USA basketball feeling a tornado had passed over them. The DR won all four quarters of the game against the United States, the game that should have been an easy win for Team USA.
The game was played at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California, home to the NBA G League San Diego Clippers. The game against Nicaragua was played on 1 March in Managua.
What is most impressive about the memorable Friday, 27 February 2026 game is that Dominican team was made mostly of the Santo Domingo-home based and trained team put together by Argentine coach Nestor Garcia (Che), with no stars. Captain Angel Delgado, who plays in the European League, was the experienced player.
During the press conference, team captain Angel Delgado wrapped up the satisfaction in winning: “We did it without them,” referring to playing without the team’s stars. He confirmed that nobody believed in them because it was all about “the young guys.” That is the guys who only play in the DR. He said he drove into the guys, “we can do it,” based on his knowledge of USA teams and the FIBA tournament.
The disadvantage of being “the young guys team” turned into an advantage. The cohesive team that had played together got to playing their game since the first quarter that would end 11 points in favor of the DR. Then the players started believing.
The DR team members for Window 2 were: power forward Andersson Mejia, power forward Angel Nuñez, point guard Gelvis Solano, point guard Richard Bautista, shooting guard Jhery Matos, power forward Angel Delgado, center Joel Soriano, small forward Jassel Perez, shooting guard Anheuri Castillo, point guard Michael Torres, guard Luis Montero, guard Omar Silverio. The coaches and staff were head coach Nestor Garcia, assistant coach David Diaz and accompanying coach Abraham Disla.
Angel Delgado credited coach Nestor Garcia (El Che) with being the strategist. He told the players, the DR could not play the USA game because the American players were faster and stronger. His strategy was to slow the game down to unsettle Team USA as eventually occurred. The US team never recovered their pace until the final quarter when it was too late. US team captain Brandon Knight would deliver 15 points in the last quarter.
The quarters of the DR vs USA game ended:
First quarter: 21-11 + 10 points
2nd quarter: 39-33 + 6 points
3rd quarter: 67-53 + 14 points
4th quarter: 87-79 + 7 points
The argument could be that the US was playing without its stars, yet NBA vets Elfrid Payton, James Wiseman and team captain Brandon Knight were there. The DR was playing without its Spanish league stars Jean Montero and Andres Feliz and Chris Duarte and without its NBA star Karl Anthony Towns (New York Knicks), David Jones Garcia (San Antonio Spurs) and Lester Quinones.
The only professional player on the team was team captain Angel Delgado who plays in Europe and could only credit 19 minutes of playing time in the NBA, as the NY Times would report on its recap on the shocking game.
The DR vs USA game in California was definitely a David vs Goliath challenge. The last time the DR had won a game against Team USA was in 1989. The Dominican team was by far the underdog and had nothing to lose. Even the arena was empty, and probably had more Dominicans than Americans who thought it would be an easy win for USA.
Yet on 27 of February, the Dominicans surprised scoring the first nine points. Their contenders would seem to continue slow for most of the night until the last quarter when Brendon Knight turned on.
Argentinian coach Nestor (Che) Garcia had already pulled off a similar feat when Team DR had defeated Argentina 79-75 in 2023 for a slot in the FIBA World Cup. “Now I am very happy because every player that comes to the (Dominican Republic) national team, they feel love for this country, for this flag,” Dominican coach Nestor Garcia said. “In our country, the people support us. This is for the Dominican people.”
Best scorers for the DR were:
Jassel Perez (20 points and 10 rebounds)
Andersson Garcia (14 points and six rebounds)
Jhery Matos and Gelvis Solano (13 points and eight assists)
Angel Luis Delgado (11 points and eight rebounds)
For the USA
Team captain Brandon Knight 20 points (15 in the last quarter), Dakota Matthias (12 points)
James Wiserman and Elfrid Payton (9 points).
The World Cup qualifiers are just starting. This was only Window 2. The series began 24 November 2025 and runs through 2 March 2027.
But the win over the USA is so sweet. The New York Times in its coverage reported on the incredible mark of at one time in the game DR leading by 19 points.
The extra good news for Team DR was that Team USA on 1 March recovered and would defeat Team Mexico 128 to 88 at the same California arena. The team got its act together and at half-time was already winning 71-32. The DR had lost to Mexico in the first qualifier window.
In the meantime, on the same 1 March, the inspired DR defeated Nicaragua 86-61.
The victory in Nicaragua puts the DR team with three wins and only one loss (to Mexico), enabling the team to grab a Second Round ticket. There is just one remaining spot in Group A to be decided in June-July 2026 window. The three qualified teams from that group will face the three advancing teams from Group C, comprised of Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and Venezuela, in the next stage set for 29 June to 7 July 2026 with games played in Santo Domingo. 16 teams are competing for 7 berths in the World Cup.
Read more:
FIBA Basketball
FIBA Basketball
FIBA Basketball
The DR team roster
DR vs USA game highlights
The Setonian
NYTimes
New York Times
DR vs USA game highlights
Yahoo Sports
USA Basketball
FIBA Basketball
Press conference after the DR vs USA game (video audio starts late)
2 March 2026