By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Valencia used a decisive 16 – 2 stretch over the last four minutes to overcome ALBA Berlin 79 – 71 and improve to 5-1 in the EuroLeague, tying its best-ever entrance in the competition.
Semi Ojeleye finished with 19 points plus seven rebounds to lead Valencia overall while Brandon Davies had 14 points. They also combined for a 7 -0 run that put the Taronja up 74 – 67 with 1:33 to play.
“This is EuroLeague and you have to earn every win,” Ojeleye said. “We stayed together we have a great coach who believes in us. They cheer MVP for all of us that’s how we play,” he added on the MVP chants by the Valencia crowd.
“Everybody contributes to the win, even guys who don’t suit up.”
After moving up 63 – 67 with four minutes to play ahead of the last part of a very close battle, ALBA looked unable to both hold back the Valencia storm or react with some points of their own. Sterling Brown scored for the 74 – 69 but Davies and Ojeleye responded with five unanswered points to cement their team’s victory.
“We need to keep working”
“It’s great taste in the end because we played better in the last minutes on defense. Before we weren’t on the level we want to be,” Valencia coach Alex Mumbru said. “We won at the end. Sometimes the important thing is winning and not losing.
“We are in November and we have a big season in front of us,” Mumbru added. “Need to keep working.”
Brown had 19 points while Matt Thomas dropped 16 points for ALBA that’s now 1-5. “Congratulations to Valencia,” said ALBA coach Israel Gonzalez. “We are competing and we’ll try to take something positive from this game.”