They were beaten by Valencia, but Real retained second place

Real survived 95-91 in the derby with Valencia at the “Vizink Arena” for the 28th matchday of the Euroleague and, with a 19-8 record, stayed at -1 with Olympiakos, having a match less and leaving the “bats” in 13 -15 to -2 from the eight.

The “merenches” had a stable lead for the longest period of the match, but in the fourth period Jones with consecutive baskets brought the “bats” to -2, but in their last two attacks the guests did not manage to score.

Thus, Real reached “4 out of 4” in the matches between them.

Real’s leaders were Dec with 18, Tavares with 14 and Cornelier, Poirier with 11 points. For Valencia, Jones stood out with 19 and Rivero with 17 points.

The match

The “bats” found the solutions at the beginning of the match and maintained a +3 to +4. With an 8-0 run led by Williams-Goss, Real led 16-12 and maintained a +1 to +4, with Cornelier’s 3-pointer ending the first period at 24-20.

Real maintained a +3 to +5 at the start of the second period, but Rivero with a personal 4-0 run reduced it to -1. The regional three-pointers brought +8 with a 6-0 run for the “merenches” and Dek and Musa brought +10 and +12 respectively, so the half ended at 49-40. Chus Mateo’s players had amazing shooting percentages and a lot of rebounds, which was the case for the Levantines as well.

The Bats went on a 5-0 run to start the third period and cut it to -4, but the Merengues were +2 to +4 in that span. The two consecutive three-pointers of the Levantines brought them to +2. Back-to-back runs on either side kept changing the lead, but Deck starred in a 7-0 Madrid run for +5 and, with individual scores 7-6, the quarter ended at 71-65.

Valencia’s 4-0 run cut it to -4 to start the fourth period and Evans’ three-pointer cut it to -3. Deck led a 6-0 run to make it 81-72 with a layup and execution from the perimeter for the “queen” and the Argentine himself maintained that lead. Valencia went on a 5-0 run to cut it to 83-79 and Jones’ 3-pointer cut it to 83-82. Real found the solutions and escaped with 88-84. Harper cut by two shots to 88-86 at 1’25”. Deck responded in kind and made it 90-86 at 1’09”.

Tavares took advantage of Valencia’s mistake to make it 92-86, but Jones’ 3-pointer made it 92-89. A shot by Moussa made it 93-89 and Valencia’s surprise 93-91 at 15” with Jones. Deck’s two shots made it 95-91 at 13”. Webb missed a three-pointer at 7” and the victory went to Real.

The quarters:24-20, 49-40, 71-65, 95-91

The statistics