HAMILTON — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drained a silky-smooth 3-pointer late in the third quarter Friday, then gave the ecstatic crowd three fingers.
In his first appearance with the national team in six years and his first hometown game since high school, the Oklahoma City Thunder guard scored 15 of his 32 points in a dominant third quarter to lead Canada to a 95-75 victory over the Dominican Republic in World Cup Qualifiers.
“We won. That’s the most important thing. But it was a fun night, a fun night for sure,” said the 23-year-old, who arrived at the arena wearing a Hockey Canada jersey.
Canada improved to 5-0. The Dominican Republic fell to 3-2 with both losses to Canada.
Kelly Olynyk had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Canada. Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who is Gilgeous-Alexander’s cousin, also scored 17 points in front of about 6,000 fans at the FirstOntario Centre.
“It’s fun to be back here, especially in front of home fans. “You don’t get that opportunity every day,” Olynyk, 31, said.
“This group of guys, especially young guys, I feel like I’m the oldest guy here now. They have a lot of talent, a lot of skill, and it’s fun to be there.”
Gilgeous-Alexander, who hadn’t played since mid-March with a lingering ankle injury, scored the first points of the night on a left-handed dunk.
“I was a little surprised. I’ve never had a left-handed dunk in my career,” he said, grinning. “It was a good way to start, a good way to start for sure … but it probably won’t happen again.”
His contributions, which also included five rebounds, five assists, three steals and a pair of blocks, earned high praise from his teammates.
“He’s certainly up there with the best of them,” said Olynyk, who made his national team debut in 2010.
“It’s a privilege to play with a guy like that. We’ve had a lot of them go through this program now. He is not alone. It’s fun to play with, fun to watch, fun to witness.”
Victor Liz scored 12 points for the Dominican Republic.
Canada is on the road Monday to play winless U.S. Virgin Islands to complete the third qualifying window.
The third of six windows marks coach Nick Nurse’s first gathering of his summer “core” of players, including four NBA players who started on Friday.
Canada has been plagued by NBA no-shows for major tournaments. After failing to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics last summer, Nurse asked the program’s top players to sign a three-year commitment to play with Canada until the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The result was perhaps the most talented gathering of Canadian players at camp this past week in Toronto. A few, such as injury recovery Jamal Murray, did not play, but Nurse said the week was a success.
“It felt like we took another step forward in the build. We had a lot of people in the gym,” he said.
Nurse started his four NBA players on Friday: Gilgeous-Alexander, who received a standing ovation from his hometown crowd at the former Copps Coliseum, Alexander-Walker (Utah Jazz), Dwight Powell (Dallas Mavericks) and Olynyk (Detroit Pistons). plus national team mainstay Melvin Ejim.
In their first Ontario game of 2018, the Canadiens led in the first quarter. An Alexander-Walker 3-pointer at the buzzer gave Canada a 21-16 lead to start the second.
The Dominican Republic briefly took the lead in the second quarter. A 16-5 run capped Kyle Alexander’s deficit at the buzzer but gave Canada a 46-36 halftime lead.
“We got to feel each other out as the game went on, we built some chemistry as the game went on, and I was pretty happy with our defensive effort overall,” Nurse said.
The Canadians pulled away in the third to take a 76-48 lead going into the final frame.
World Cup qualifiers include 80 countries divided into four regions. Eight teams from America qualify for the 2023 World Cup in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.
The World Cup is the main qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The three remaining qualification windows are in late August and November this year and February 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 1, 2022.
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