By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Hereda San Pablo Burgos advanced to the Basketball Champions League Final Eight semifinals thanks to a strong performance and convincing win against Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem Wednesday. A one-sided affair featured a dominating inside performance by Dejan Kravic and brought on the next challenge, competing for a finals berth.
“We don’t know so much about them yet,” the recently-signed Serbian-Canadian big said in the post-game press conference regarding the semifinals opponent, JDA Dijon or Turk Telekom, “Obviously they are two great teams. Either team will be a tough match.”
The second quarterfinal closes out the first day of Final Eight action in Athens, Greece. The remaining quarterfinal tilts are scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, and will produce the second semifinal pairing.
“Dijon plays good defense, a very energetic team. Turk Telekom is a very talented team with the players they signed,” added Kravic, “Either way we have to do the same thing we did in this game and just focus on us. Do what we do best and try to execute that in the 40 minutes of the game.”
The initial gameplan did not include leaning heavily on Kravic, but a string of seven straight twos stretching into the second half propelled the Spanish club into a commanding lead and eventually into the semifinals.
“It was very important for us to have more rhythm than Hapoel Jerusalem,” said head coach Joan Penarroya referring to his side tipping off its 2020-21 season with three ACB games, “But it’s not easy to beat Hapoel by 27 points. My players played a good game and congratulations to them.”
Watch the post-game press conference:
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League