By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Maodo Lo saved the day for ALBA Berlin with his immense contribution in crunch time, leading his team to a 95-91 victory over TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz at home, in a Round 5 makeup game. The German team recovered from a three-game losing streak in the last three rounds of the competition and improved its overall record to 7-10.
Lo signed off with 19 points, including a crucial jump shot to give ALBA the lead with 34 seconds remaining in the game, after Baskonia tied the game multiple times during the second half and vanished the hosts’ lead.
Jayson Granger posted a season-high with 21 points and six assists to lead all ALBA scorers, while in the wake of Luke Sikma’s and Niels Giffey’s injuries, youngster Jonas Mattisseck played for 20 minutes and produced 12 points for the hosts. Simone Fontecchio and Johannes Thiemann added 15 and 14 points respectively.
“We have a great group of guys, you know. The chemistry we have is unbelievable. You saw the injured guys out there cheering for us the whole game. We’re missing, of course, our master, Aito. So I think this game was huge for us. We showed this team has more than heart. We had desire for 40 minutes and we never give up. Some days we’ve been lucky at the end, and I think one of those days is today”, said Granger after the game.
On the other end of the court, Achille Polonara went on to score 18 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists for the Spanish side, while Zoran Dragic had 17 points. Alec Peters exited the court with 16 points and Pierria Henry recorded 10 points and 9 assists.
Baskonia’s two-game winning streak in the last round broke off and now the visitors fall to an 8-9 record.
Photo: EuroLeague