Sanatura Escazu 70 Grecia 64

Grecia's colorful gym

Costa Rican basketball (and football for that matter) uses the European model of relegation where the last place team in First Division drops to Second Division, and the Second Division champ graduates up to First Division.  The town of Grecia, located about 45 minutes from San Jose, won the Second Division tournament last year in dramatic fashion, beating the University of Costa Rica in the final game of the championship series. After moving up, they reinforced their team with some First Division players including former Barva stalwart Amir Alvarado, one of the best players in the league.



This was our first trip to Grecia, on a windy and cool night in the mountains. Five minutes before game time and our starting point guard runs into the gym, coming straight from university exams. I have to admit I was a little nervous since we were depleted in the backcourt with a player suspension (Diego Loria) and our Sub 21 guys being away for Juegos Nacionales, giving us only three true perimeter players until Sanchez showed up. Grecia has one of the bigger front lines in the league, so early on we played some zone. Grecia got off to a hot start, knocking down some three pointers and long jumpers, propelling them to 16-14 lead to end the first quarter. Our offense was sluggish through most of the first half and we went into the locker room down 32-29.

The third quarter saw better defensive intensity on our part. Better pressure on the ball led to some turnovers and fast break opportunities, allowing us to flip the lead. Javier Bustamante had a string of steals to lead the decisive run to end the third quarter up by 4. In the fourth quarter, we kept wearing down a tired Grecia team as our bench sparked another run, eventually building a 12 point lead with three minutes to go. Grecia had a rally at the very end to whittle the lead down to six, but time ran out on their comeback attempt. Even though we did not play a good first half, it was another quality win on the road.

Game Notes

• Javier Bustamante led our scoring with 16 points. Busta is known for his outside shooting, but his defense was the key in this game. After Busta, we had a very balanced distribution of points.
• Dwyane Grant finally got his release from Liceo de Costa Rica. He's been very patient waiting for his debut with our team. The league took its own sweet time in recognizing Dwayne's release from his former team.
• This was the first game where no technicals were called, a credit to the referees showing good judgement.