Dominant Baskonia in the Spanish eight-legged derby with Valencia!

Dominant Baskonia in the Spanish eight-legged derby with the Valencia!

The Basques struggled for just one half against the visitors, but then stepped on the gas and eventually celebrated a comfortable victory (114-75), thanks to which they improved their record to 14-12 and climbed to 7th place in the standings.

On the other hand, Valencia experienced its second consecutive defeat, after the home game against Olympiakos, falling to 13-13 and being left out of the places that lead to the playoffs.

The triumphants had five players with double-digit points, the Homs (24 p.), Thompson (16 points, 11 assists), Costello (15 points, 8 rebounds), Giedraitis (14p.) and Marinkovic (15p.), while for the defeated they were saved Harper (15p.) and Lopez-Arostegi (13p.).

The match

The game started with Webb scoring a three-pointer for the Valencia, which entered more focused and to the point. Radebo made it 10-6 in favor of the guests with his own three-pointer, before the Baskonia found a rhythm, tying at 10-10, with Kochar. With a 7-2 run, Valencia took the lead again (12-17), while the home team countered with a 9-0 run of their own, for a 21-12 advantage. Rivero leveled the score at 21-21 for Moubro’s side, Costello and Dieth put Baskonia ahead by +6 (27-21), before Harper cut back for the 27-24 of the first period.

The Basques went ahead 32-25 at the start of the second quarter, thanks to a three-pointer by Marinkovicbefore o Prepelic answer for it 32-28. Baskonia took a 36-28 lead, forcing Moubru to call an.. exasperated time-out, but his players woke up, down to 39-36 with a 3-pointer by Harper. By the end of the first half, Baskonia picked up the pace and improved their shooting percentages, going into the locker room with an 8-point lead (57-48).

The third period began with Homs and Giedraitis to give Baskonia a 15-point lead for the first time in the match (65-50), while the home team comfortably maintained the “safety margin” in their favor until the end of the quarter, when they were ahead with 81-64despite Harper’s buzzer-beater 3-pointer.

THE Baskonia continued to completely control the match at the start of the fourth period, when Marinkovic, Giedraitis and Homs continued to do whatever they wanted to Valencia’s defence, creating an imposing 21-0 run and surpassing 100 points (102-66), with 5 minutes remaining in the final. The final 114-75 reflects the image of the match, sending Baskonia to 7th place in the standings.

The quarters: 27-24, 57-48, 81-64, 114-75

The match statistics