By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
No Luca Vildoza, no Facundo Campazzo, no problem for Crvena Zvezda (9-8). The Serbian team has Nemanja Nedovic and Filip Petrusev. The dynamic duo was responsible for a big win against Valencia (7-10) in Spain 77-75.
Fantastic game by Petrusev who is the MVP of the game. He scored 25 points while adding nine rebounds. Nemanja Nedovic scored 19 points.
“It was a great team effort. Neda and I stepped up. We will continue to work“, said Petrusev.
It was more than just another game for Crvena Zvezda. For days now the Serbian team was the talk of Europe, first for singing Facundo Campazzo, then for the ban that prevents the Argentinian point guard from playing games till march. The player showed their protest by wearing t-shirts that said “Free Facu”.
As for the game itself, it was spectacular, primarily on the offensive end. Filip Petrusev continued to dominate in the paint while having big help from Nemanja Nedovic, Ognjen Dobric, and Jhon Holand. The Zvezda duo was responsible for the five-point advantage at halftime (47-42)
“When you win on the road, you prove you are a good team“, Nedovic said.
This was just the beginning of the excitement. Valencia was by no means going to give up, very quickly the home side was back in the game, but Nemanja Nedovic was hitting shots and getting fouled to keep Zvezda in front after three quarters (59-56).
Zvezda has a seven-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but Jared Harper hit a big three-pointer to cut the lead down to 65-62. Valencia still had problems on defense. The Spanish team had no answers for Petrusev. Zvezda’s big man hit big shots, but Klemen Prepelic made three free throws in the last minute (72-71). Nedovic and Petrusev returned the favor to keep the lead.
“Tough game. Valencia plays good basketball. But we played good defense, and we were a bit lucky in the end“, coach Dusko Ivanovic added.
Chris Jones led the way for Valencia with 16 points.