By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Chris Singleton returned to Anadolu Efes a week ago, in a move that brought together most of the protagonists of the back-to-back championship squad of 2021 and 2022.
His season debut at Valencia though wasn’t combined with a win since the Spanish side, apparently, has the know-how of getting the best out of mighty Efes.
Thanks to an outstanding fourth period, Valencia beat Efes 81 – 71 at home and swept the reigning champions in the regular season. The hosts had an 18-2 run down the stretch to overpower their opponents and improve to 8-10.
Valencia’s victory becomes even greater considering that they faced several injury problems (Chris Jones, Jasiel Rivero, Jared Harper, Victor Claver, Sam Van Rossom) and had a decimated backcourt. Six players of the Taronja stepped up to score in double figures and help their team recover after two straight defeats.
Josep Puerto had a career-high 15 points on 4-4 triples plus seven rebounds for Valencia while James Web III scored all of his 14 points in the last eight minutes to lead the charge toward the win. He dropped eight points with two 3-pointers to put his team up 67 – 62 and then drained another triple for 75 – 62 with 2:17 remaining.
“I’m so happy right now,” Puerto said. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time, so I just took advantage [of it] and we won. Yeah, for sure [I want a poster of my posterizing dunk on Chris Singleton].”
Efes, which had taken its biggest lead in the game, 49 – 56 entering the fourth period, didn’t manage to recover and dropped to 9 – 9. Will Clyburn had 15 points plus five rebounds, Shane Larkin dropped 14 points and got six boards in his second EuroLeague game this season after his return from injury while Tibor Pleiss finished with 14 points and six rebounds as well. In his first basketball match since last June, Singleton played 13:23 and went 0-3.
“Great game in the last quarter for them,” Efes coach Ergin Ataman said. “We controlled the game until the last quarter, but after that, we missed shots and they made [them]. They moved the ball well and they found open shots – they made them and we missed them – and they got a good win. Congratulations to Valencia.”
Klemen Prepelic produced 13 points plus six assists for Valencia. Jonah Radebaugh scored 12 and dished out five dimes while Xavi Lopez-Arostegui also dropped 12 points.
“I’m very proud of my players because they fought, they believed until the end,” Valencia coach Alex Mumbru. “They played a great game, with a lot of energy. The key is that we played great defense in the first half. They shot, they missed two or three spot-ups, but the rest [of the game] we played great defense and we continued [that] in the last 20 minutes.”