Βy Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Few teams can keep at check Youssoupha Fall when he is hot and that was the case in Baskonia‘s 87-67 win over Crvena Zvezda. Fall started the game with 8 points in the first four minutes, giving to Baskonia a 14-3 lead and there was no coming back for Zvezda after that.
Fall finished the game with 20 points and six rebounds and the guests didn’t have an answer for him. To be exact, Zvezda trimmed the lead to five (21-16) at the end of the first quarter, by Baskonia after a 21-4 run got a 42-20 advantage. With Fall having 13 points at halftime the score was 48-27 and the game was practically over.
“This is just the beginning. I’m trying to work hard every day”, said Baskonia’s center after the game. “This is just the result. It was a good team win, everything is okay. Every game matters now. Every game is important now. We want to reach the playoffs and we have to win every game to do that.”
Luca Vildoza and Rokas Giedriatis added 14 points each for the winners, while Achille Polonara added 12 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. The hosts controlled the game, making just seven turnovers while dishing 24 assists.
For Baskonia’s coach Dusko Ivanovic the point was that his team got two very good quarters: “It was important for us against a team that played really good in the second and third quarters. They demonstrated that they have talent. We maybe were a little relaxed, but I think we controlled the game well. In the second half, we didn’t have aggressiveness. Maybe the last five minutes of the last quarter, but not in the third quarter. For us, every game until the very end will be very important.”
Jordan Loyd with 14 points was the top scorer of Zvezda, but that effort was far than enough.
Thanks to this win Baskonia has a 13-13 record, good enough for the 11th position and two wins away from the playoffs line, while Zvezda dropped to 7-19.