He made it a “thriller”, but Baskonia survived against Red Star

Despite leading by +10 in the fourth quarter, Baskonia could only beat Red Star 87-85 in Vitoria for Game 13 of the EuroLeague and move their record to 8-5 which puts them in the top five, leaving the Serbians at 4-9 and away from the privileged positions.

The Basques had gained double-digit differences and were ahead throughout the match, but the 8-0 run of the Serbs brought the tie and made the match a “thriller” at the end, with Moneke giving the victory to the Spaniards.

The leaders of the winners were the Sendekerskis with 18, Howard with 17, Moneke with 15 and Rogavopoulos with 14 points (1/1 two-pointers, 4-6 three-pointers, 2 rebounds).

The match

Marinkovic helped Baskonia 7-0 to open the contest and the three pointers of the Basques made it 13-4 on the poor defense of Yannis Sfairopoulos on the peripherals of Dusko Ivanovic. Sendekerskis had taken the “baton” for Baskonia, having rival Teodosic “in awe” for the home team’s +4 to +7. A 5-0 run by the Serbs reduced the score to 20-18, but two consecutive 3-pointers by Rogavopoulos and Moneke ended the first quarter at 26-18.

The two consecutive three-pointers of the Basques at the beginning of the second period brought +11 for the Spaniards and Howard had now taken action in organization and scoring for the +10 to +11 of Dusko Ivanovic’s players. With Moneke’s assist, the score became 43-30, but a 5-0 Serbian run cut it to 44-37. Moneke’s 3-pointer made it 52-39 and a 4-0 run by Astera cut it to 52-43 at the end of the half. Baskonia had 7/12 2-pointers, 5/7 shots and 19 rebounds. The Red Star had 7/9 shooting and 18 rebounds.

Giedraitis’ 3-pointer cut the deficit to -5 for the Red Stars early in the third period, but Howard’s 3-pointer made it 60-51. Asteras with a 9-0 run with many offensive options tied the game at 62-62, but a 5-0 Baskonia run ended the quarter at 67-62.

Rogavopoulos’ third three-pointer made it 70-62 at the start of the fourth period, and with his own two-pointer in Astera’s counterattack, he made it 72-65 and the Greek forward reached 11 points in the match. Sendekerskis’ three-pointers brought +10 to the Serbians’ desperate attempt to reduce. Giedraitis cut it to 81-74 with 2 minutes left. Rogavopoulos’ fourth three-pointer made it 84-74, but Teodosic counterattacked and went on a 5-0 run to make it 84-79 with 1 minute to go. Giedraitis’ three-pointer reduced the score to 84-82 at 25” and made it 8-0 in the Serbian streak and we were going to a “thriller”.

Marinkovic with a shot made it 85-82 and Giedraitis with another three-pointer tied it at 85-85 at 8” before the end with 6/8 from the 6.75 line for the Lithuanian international. Boloboi committed a fifth foul on Sendekerskis and was ejected, and the Lithuanian with two shots made it 87-85 at 6”. Giedraitis missed a 3-pointer and fouled Moneke, who missed both shots, but grabbed the offensive rebound and kept the win for his team.

The quarters: 26-18, 52-43, 67-62, 87-85

The statistics