By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Markus Howard with 30 points and Darius Thompson with 18 points, four assists, and four steals took Baskonia by the hand and led it to the 92-75 win over Crvena Zvezda to stay perfect with a 3-0 record.
The American duo led the charge, while Vanja Marinkovic also added 10 points for the winning side as Baskonia converted a club-record 19-of-36 triples.
Luka Mitrovic with 17 points and 8 rebounds was great for the Serbian side, but not enough.
Zvezda started the game leading by one (24-23) in the first period and by five (47-42) at halftime with Howard keeping Baskonia alive with 19 points on 4/8 threes.
However, things changed in the third period, which was completed with Baskonia getting the lead (59-57) and the hosts started the last quarter with a 16-7 partial score, building an 11-point lead (75-64).
Joan Penarroya, Baskonia head coach said that his team simply changed after halftime: “We were more aggressive, more intelligent, without stupid mistakes. In the second half, they only scored 28 points, and our defense improved our confidence in the offense. We scored good threes and played better in the second half. We need to play better on both sides of the court.”
The guests couldn’t come back after that. Two threes by Filip Petrusev made it a six-point game (78-72) but they couldn’t get any closer. A three by Matt Costello made the score 85-72 with less than two minutes left and the game was over.
Vladimir Jovanovic, Crvena Zvezda‘s head coach admitted that this wasn’t his team’s night: “Congratulations to Baskonia for the win. They had an excellent second half, they scored many threes, and some very tough shots. On the other hand, we didn’t and that was the game.”
Photo credit: EuroLeague