Unheralded 'little' Dominican squad relishing cutting rivals down to size

SHANGHAI - The Dominican Republic, tied with the Philippines as the shortest team at the FIBA World Cup, is proving that size isn't everything after winning its first two games.

The Caribbean nation surged into the second round of the tournament on Tuesday with a gutsy 70-68 victory over favored Germany, to go with an opening 80-76 win over Jordan.

"Maybe for a lot of people we are the tournament surprise," said the Dominicans' Argentine coach Nestor Garcia after seeing off the Germans. "We believe in ourselves and now we enjoy this moment.