2026 Central American and Caribbean Games: Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic Post Rout Wins as Mexico Survives a One-Point Scare

Basketball got underway at the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games with four men's group games, and the day split cleanly into two categories: blowouts and a nail-biter.
The nail-biter came first alphabetically and lasted right to the buzzer. Mexico needed all four quarters to hold off Panama, 66-64, in a game that swung on Panama's 21-point second quarter and never really settled after that. Alejandro Munoz (203-F) led Mexico with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and Ronnie Selleaze (191-G) added 14 despite going just 4-of-17 from the field overall. Panama got 18 from Dylan Lemon and 14 from Johnny Murillo (2008), and had a look at forcing overtime before Mexico's defense held in the closing possessions. Two points was the entire margin the tightest game of the day by a wide stretch.
Belize and Nicaragua played something closer to a track meet. Belize's Joost West (180-PG-2008) was nearly unstoppable, going 9-of-16 from the floor for 27 points, six offensive rebounds and six assists, and David Watson (185-SG-2007) added 19 more as Belize built and held a lead through three quarters. Nicaragua had an answer waiting, though: Josiah Moseley (203-F-2006) caught fire late, finishing 14-of-18 from the field for 31 points, and Douglas Langford (201-F-2006, agency: One Motive Sports) grabbed 11 offensive rebounds on his way to 19 enough to fuel a 33-point fourth quarter that made the final score, 99-85, look far closer than the first three quarters had suggested.
There was no such drama in the day's other two games. Puerto Rico buried Jamaica by 79, winning 120-41 behind Dwight Gaines' 20 points and eight rebounds and a balanced attack that saw Alexander Montes (196-G-2007) add 18, Vincent Stewart (207-C-2007) Jr. score 15, and five other players reach double figures. Jamaica's Zachery Smith (2007) managed 15 in the losing effort, but the Puerto Ricans shot the ball at a rate several starters over 60 percent from the floor that put the outcome out of reach by the second quarter. The Dominican Republic was almost as ruthless against Guatemala, winning 107-40 behind Ronald Garcia's 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting and Adrian Brito (198-F-2007)'s 17; Guatemala's Cesar Catalan (190-SG-2007) led his side with 11 points on a rough 4-of-19 shooting night that summed up an afternoon in which the Dominicans simply had an answer for everything.