On the opening day of the wheelchair basketball competition at the II Managua 2018 Para-Central American Games, the host’s Nicaragua men’s team got off to good start, overwhelming their opponent Honduras, with a convincing, 82-26 win.
Pushing out to an early 31-4 lead in the first quarter, they continued to dominate over the less experienced Honduras in the second to extend their lead to 62-6. Despite the deficit, Honduras kept their heads high in the second half and won the third 10-7 and lost the final quarter by 3points, 10-13.
Nicaragua led by top scorer Richard Hodgson’s 26 points claimed their first victory in front of the home crowd.
The other two men’s matches of the day were a lot closer.
Costa Rica held off a late rally from Panama, to win 56-42, with quarter scores 14-14, 13-9, 11-11, 16-8.
Costa Rica’s Kenneth Gonzalez led the scoring with 29 points, whilst for Panama Gilberto Franco’s top scored with 13 points.
A late rally from El Salvador was not enough for them as they fell 40-46 against the Guatemalan team. After a slow start from the Guatemalan’s they took control in the second and third quarter to take an eight-point advantage into the final quarter which they managed to maintain to take the win.
Juan Buch hit 24 points to top score for the Guatemalans, El Salvador’s scoring was spread across the board more evenly with Jeffrey Guzman hitting 11 points, followed closely by William Calderon’s and Henry Ayala’s 10 points apiece.
The women’s who were playing in a 3x3 competition Nicaraguans dominated Honduras to win 7-0. The representatives of Guatemala defeated the Salvadorans 12-4, however, in their second match of the day, El Salvador got their own victory 10-0 against the Hondurans.
The day continues on Tuesday from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m., at the Polideportivo España facilities, admission is free.
G1 – 10:00 – W – EL SALVADOR 4 – 12 GUATEMALA
G2 – 11:00 – W – NICARAGUA 7 – 0 HONDURAS
G3 – 12:00 – W – HONDURAS 0 – 10 EL SALVADOR
G4 – 13:00 – M – GUATEMALA 46 – 40 EL SALVADOR
G5 – 15:00 – M – COSTA RICA 56 – 42 PANAMA
G6 – 17:00 – M – NICARAGUA 82 – 26 HONDURAS
More details and full schedule.
Photo credit: Comité Paralímpico Guatemalteco
