By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After a balanced first half, Baskonia made some distance in the third quarter and held on for an 86-76 home win over Real Madrid in Round 28 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. With this win, Baskonia stopped the streak of seven losses against Real Madrid (in all competitions).
The Madrid squad didn’t have Facundo Campazzo, Walter Tavares, Gabriel Deck and Felipe Reyes in the roster for this game and the absence of ‘big guys’ turned out to be a problem, especially since Ognjen Kuzmic – who made a return after four months – got into foul trouble early on. Baskonia’s Vincent Poirier with 19 points and 16 rebounds and Johannes Voigtmann with 13 points and 12 boards used that to their advantage notching double-doubles.
“If you take a look, the statistics were quite even but the most important thing in the game was Baskonia’s domination in rebounds. They had far more second-chance opportunities than us. We have to recuperate as we have a game in less than 48 hours and move on”, coach Pablo Laso explained.
Luca Vildoza nailed game-high 20 points for the hosts while on the other side, Trey Thompkins banked three shots from deep on his way to 17 points and Jaycee Carroll added 16.
Baskonia’s paint control put them ahead 39-36 at halftime but the crucial moment was at the start of the second half when the hosts made an 11-2 run and grabbed a 64-53 lead in front of the final ten minutes. Real Madrid did manage to cut the gap to just three points (75-72) but Baskonia stopped them in their tracks and secured the win.
Coach Velimir Perasovic thought his team’s energy was the key: “It was a very difficult game but in the end, we showed we have more energy than Real Madrid. We were able to play stronger on the rebound, especially on offense and we showed that we want to win this game more.”
Baskonia improved to 15-13 and stayed at the 6th spot on their way to the playoffs while Real now holds a 21-7 record and is third on the standings.