By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Facundo Campazzo dished 19 assists and tied the all-time EuroLeague record which was held by Stefan Jovic, Jaycee Carroll and Anthony Randolph scored 27 points each and Real Madrid managed to get the 103-97 win over ALBA Berlin.
The Argentinian guard had a double-double, scoring also ten points and tied the record with four minutes left in the game. He couldn’t break it and ultimately fouled-out after a crazy game of really big runs.
The first quarter was all about Madrid with the guests leading 41-19 after nine minutes of action, Randolph scoring 19 points, Jaycee Carroll adding 11 and Campazzo dishing 10 assists in eight minutes.
Real Madrid was leading 41-25 at the end of the first period, making 7/8 two-pointers and 8/9 threes. However, ALBA reacted admirably, winning the second quarter by 26 points (35-9) and getting a 60-50 half time lead.
Things continued to be crazy in the third period in which Real Madrid prevailed by 18 points (29-11) and entered the last quarter with the score being 79-71 in its favor.
Carroll started the fourth period with a three, Madrid got again a double-digit advantage (82-71) and ALBA Berlin couldn’t get into striking distance.
Rokas Giedriatis with 17 points led a balanced and valiant effort for the hosts, but the depth and the quality of Real Madrid prevailed on the way to a 17-6 record, good enough for the second spot in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings. ALBA Berlin stayed at 8-16.
“They always fight back”
Madrid coach Pablo Laso gave credit to his feisty German opponent: “They are a team that always fights back. They play with energy, have many threats and shot a great percentage in threes today. So it was difficult, but we stayed together and changed things at halftime that really helped us.”
On the other hand, ALBA Berlin Spanish coach Aito Garcia Reneses was also proud of the reaction of his team, despite the bad start: “We began the game badly without energy in defense. But it’s very difficult to react and we did. After that, I am happy with the game, because for us competing at this level is this very difficult: traveling, playing, traveling, playing teams like Real Madrid. It’s almost impossible to do it better. We must realize it’s very difficult and we are proud of our team because we are trying to compete in every game.”