Dorados at Fuerza Regia
SAN PEDRO GARZA GARCÍA (Interstat)—Dorados will visit Fuerza Regia on Monday at Gimnasio Nuevo Leon in San Pedro Garza García, Mexico, in a matchup between two of the league’s stronger teams.
Fuerza Regia enters at 28-10, while Dorados is 19-12. Fuerza Regia will be at home and will try to build on the most recent head-to-head result, a 101-90 win over Dorados. In that game, Fuerza Regia’s Scott Bamforth scored 25 points and added four rebounds and five assists. Dorados’ Chasson Randle scored 24 points and had two assists in 31 minutes.
Randle is the player to watch for Dorados. The guard has been a consistent scoring option, and his most recent outing against Fuerza Regia showed he can produce against the home side. Dorados also got 17 points from Emmanuel Wembi and eight points, six rebounds and three assists from Sindarius Thornwell in the most recent meeting, but the team came up short after Fuerza Regia pulled away.
Bamforth is the player to watch for Fuerza Regia. He has been productive over his recent stretch, including 19 points, five rebounds and four assists at Soles and 16 points, two rebounds and two assists in another game at Soles. He also had 15 points, two rebounds and three assists against El Calor de Cancun, and 12 points, three rebounds and seven assists in another meeting with El Calor. Bamforth’s scoring and playmaking give Fuerza Regia another strong option alongside Wayne Langston and Joseph Avila.
Dorados will look to counter with Randle and a supporting cast that includes Wembi and Thornwell. Dorados has shown it can score in bunches, but it will need a strong defensive effort on the road against a Fuerza Regia team that has been difficult to beat at home. The visiting side will try to avoid another high-scoring loss to Fuerza Regia and will need to limit Bamforth’s open looks while getting Randle into rhythm early.
Fuerza Regia, meanwhile, will aim to protect its home court and continue its recent success in the series. A win over Dorados would add another positive result before the teams meet again. Dorados will try to use its scoring depth to keep pace and hand Fuerza Regia a home loss.
Both teams will return to action against each other again later, but the focus Monday is on the latest meeting at Gimnasio Nuevo Leon.
Interstat’s game simulator projects Fuerza Regia to win 83-74. Interstat’s ELO system gives Fuerza Regia an 86.3 percent probability to win. Fuerza Regia is a -5.5 pregame favorite, and the over/under is 172.5.