By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After a surprising win in Vitoria, Joventut completed the ACB quarterfinal series with an 83-76 victory over Cazoo Baskonia at Badalona and became the first semifinalist.
Carles Duran’s team will face either Real Madrid or Gran Canaria in best-of-five semifinal series, with Blancos leading after a convincing home win.
Kyle Guy had another great game and led the Catalan side with 20 points and 4-8 shooting from beyond the arc. Guillem Vives followed with 14 points, Andres Feliz added 13, and Vladimir Brodziansky had 11 points for the winning team.
Pau Ribas, who couldn’t help the team due to injury, signed a new contract with the club.
For Baskonia, who finished the season in the quarterfinals, Marcus Howard had 16, Maik Kotsar 12 and Rokas Giedraitis 11 points.
The way the season started for the Vitorian club, it didn’t seem they won’t be making it to EuroLeague playoffs, and that they would be eliminated on the first step in the ACB postseason, after finishing second in the standings, but Joventut showed their strenght.
First half was an even battle, with teams going back and forth, but in the third quarter the hosts started taking control. Early in the fourt, they took a 15-point lead, Baskonia tried to answer, trimmed it to six, but that was it from Joan Penarroya’s team.
ACB quarterfinals, Game 2 (best-of-three):
Joventut – Baskonia 83-76 /2-0/
Gran Canaria – Real Madrid (31/05) /0-1/
Unicaja – Lenovo Tenerife (01/06) /1-0/
Valencia – Barcelona (02/06) /0-1/