By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
In what looked at first like an easy task but transformed itself later on as a tough night, Baskonia found the 91-86 victory against ALBA Berlin in the Mercedes-Benz Arena, where the 2024 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four will be played, leaving the home side winless after these first two Regular Season games.
Being the captain of his team starting this summer, Tadas Sedekerskis came out strong for Baskonia, providing the umpteenth all-around performance of 11 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals. Starting as the point guard of the Basque side, Codi Miller-McIntyre led the team in scoring with 17 points, while his replacement off the bench Nico Mannion ended the second quarter with a deep dagger.
“All the EuroLeague away games are super tough, I’m really proud of my team. We played together, we shared the ball and we helped each other. If we want to get victories like this, we have to play like tonight. We’re a young team, a little bit inexperienced. But we’re learning, we’re improving every day”, the Lithuanian forward commented after being named the Best Player of the Game.
Sharing frontline duties, Matt Costello and Chima Moneke also ended the game in double-digits. The Ivorian power forward helped his team get the final win with 10 points and 6 rebounds, while the former BAXI Manresa and AS Monaco sensation slowed down after almost getting a double-double in every appearance so far with his new team. He added 15 points to contribute to the victory.
“We’re very happy to win in Berlin, it’s the first victory for Baskonia here in the new EuroLeague era and it’s important. In the last quarter we played terribly with eight turnovers, we missed two layups and easy three-point shots. The run in the third quarter? We played solid defense, we controlled ALBA’s transition and we had a good percentage shooting”, Joan Peñarroya stated after the win in Germany.
On Israel Gonzalez’s side, Tim Schneider came out strong off the bench, damaging the opposing defense from two-point range (5/5), ending with 17 points. His compatriot Johannes Thiemann found a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while the Italian duo composed of Gabriele Procida and Matteo Spagnolo provided 12 points each to keep the German side alive late in the game.
“It was a difficult game for us. Baskonia played with a very good shooting percentage. We were fighting all throughout the game and right now this is our goal: to fight until the end. We missed some shots, but generally speaking, I’m satisfied with the effort. Right now it’s not enough to win, but we have to keep building in this way”, the Spanish head coach said after the second straight loss.
After two balanced quarters, the Basque team ran away in the third by reaching a 16-point lead (67-51) following a deep three-pointer by Nico Mannion at 3:28 minutes on the clock until the remaining ten of the game. Gabriele Procida brought his team back to an eight-point deficit (76-68) with 7:52 left in the game. Matteo Spagnolo stepped up late to cut the gap to five points (81-76) at 4:52 on the clock.
Things got pretty interesting once Baskonia got stuck only up two points (85-83) with less than three minutes in the encounter following another two-pointer by Matteo Spagnolo, while Johannes Thiemann banked in from deep to make it a three-point game (89-86) in the last 00:45 seconds on the court. However, Joan Peñarroya’s team found a way to survive and get its first victory of the EuroLeague season after losing in Round 1 against Real Madrid.
Heading to the first double-duty week of this year’s EuroLeague Regular Season, Baskonia will play once again against a German side, hosting Bayern Munich on October 17 at 20:30 CET. On the following day at the same hour, ALBA Berlin will travel to Italy to face Virtus Bologna. Then, they will respectively face Zalgiris Kaunas at home and AS Monaco away, closing the double-game week competition.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague