– Cameron Iwasa scored a pair of second-half goals as Sacramento Republic FC rallied for a 2-1 victory against Las Vegas Lights FC at Heart Health Park on Saturday night, earning their third win this season against Lights FC to move closer to the playoff positions in the USL Championship’s Pacific Division. Basketball wasn’t big back then now it’s getting bigger because of people like me and other players from our country. “Back when I started playing basketball, there wasn’t a lot of opportunity. What’s funny, a lot of people don’t believe I can throw 90. Then I started playing basketball when I was 13, 14 years old and that was it. “It’s every Dominican kid’s dream to make it to the Major Leagues,” he said recently. Duarte, who was taken 13th in last week’s NBA Draft, grew up playing baseball, as is the case for so many Dominican youths, and claims - no, insists - he has a 90-mile-per-hour fastball. He is a native of the Dominican Republic, a place where baseball is king and basketball is an afterthought, a country that has produced precious little in the way of NBA talent beyond the Horfords (Tito and Al) and Francisco Garcia. It was an amazing feeling.” Forgive Duarte his shock at being drafted, and in the lottery, no less. “It’s something I’ll always remember, my country, all the Latinos that I represent. Duarte would later re-live the moment when his name was called, when he hugged his longtime girlfriend Sylvia Velazquez and planted a loving kiss on the forehead of his 16-month-old son, Christopher Jr., before ascending the stage.
“I can’t believe I’m shaking your hand,” the University of Oregon swingman said. When Chris Duarte stepped onto the stage after his draft selection by the Indiana Pacers on July 29, he approached NBA commissioner Adam Silver and smiled from ear to ear.
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