For some it was a typical Tuesday night, but for Coach Orlando Antigua of Dominican Republic it was a very special one. The 74-68 win against Finland made the FIBA Americas team the first, following the mighty USA, group to win two consecutive games in the boundaries of Group C. That boils down in giving them a great opportunity in the race to the top four. More importantly, it was an early achievement for the team.

Eloy Vargas took the lead in owning 18 points, 13 rebounds, a steal and 4 blocks. To highlight, eight of those points were in the third quarter.

"I'm really proud and happy of Eloy because I know him since he was probably 16-17," said a delightful Antigua.

"No. No," interrupted by Vargas. "Since 13 coach," the 25-year-old corrected.

 "I know he has great capabilities," Antigua continued. "He's been really great with rebounding. And I'm glad the shots came through. I'm very proud of him. I expect that of him."

 "It's a big win for us," Vargas said after the positive result. "It's a big win for our country. Our country has been waiting for 36 years to see us play here. This win is very special."

"We did a great job of controlling the boards. We wanted to make it difficult. We wanted to control and limit them to less than 40 percent (shooting) from the floor. We did that," he added.

 "I'm happy and proud of the way the guys responded and handled adversity; especially proud of the guys who came off the bench. It was a full team effort. As a coach and staff we are proud of that." \

Dominican Republic will battle back-to-back against the finalists of the 2010 FIBA World Championship - starting off with the reigning champions, the USA, on Wednesday and last edition's runners-up Turkey on the following day.

(Source: FIBA official website)