By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
ATHENS — Vitor Benite gave the starting push and then put the finishing touch for San Pablo Burgos in the first Basketball Champions League semifinal.
The Brazilian guard hit 10 consecutive points in the first period and another 10 in the first five minutes of the final quarter as his team beat JDA Dijon 81 – 67 to advance to the championship game Sunday (4/10). He finished with 25 points on 5-6 3-pointers.
Ken Horton added 19 points while Dejan Kravic provided 11 points and six assists for Burgos that led from near-start to finish and didn’t face any problems vs. Dijon. The French side looked out of sync right from the start and couldn’t catch up with its opponents after falling behind early in the game.
Thanks to Benite’s shooting, Burgos completed the first period up 23 – 13 and then remained the boss for the rest of the match. Axel Julien (17 points), Chase Simon (14 points) and Alexandre Chassang (12 points) weren’t enough for Dijon to counter its opponents’ strength.