By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Dominating display distanced Baxi Manresa by a margin of 31 points before settling for the 86-63 victory versus Unicaja and the 1-0 advantage in the all-Spanish affair of the Basketball Champions League Quarterfinals best-of-three series.
Joe Thomasson got 16 points and Sylvain Francisco banked in 12 points. The star of the most recent episode of BCL Diaries Chima Moneke posted an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double as his side notched its 11th win in 14 BCL home games Tuesday evening. For the visitors, Jonathan Barreiro salvaging a share of the game-high 16 points fell one point short of his season-best showing.
The players of Pedro Martinez scored the first 16 points of Game 1 and capped off a brilliant first quarter with a three-point buzzer-beater sank by Francisco. It was already 29-4 at Pavello Nou Congost. After nearly 14 minutes of action, Tim Abromaitis finally made the first field goal for the visitors.
On the injury list, besides Guillem Jou (Achilles tendon surgery), who was ruled out for the remainder of the 2021-22 season in December, Dani Garcia (leg) was recently sidelined and will remain out for four weeks. But it was certainly one-way traffic against the ACB rival.
Out for the last couple of months, Unicaja can potentially have Jaime Fernandez (leg) back for Game 2. scheduled to take place in Malaga next Tuesday. If the team coached by Ibon Navarro bounces back and forces Game 3, the series will shift back to Manresa to decide which side will travel to Bilbao and compete in the Final Four between 6 and 8 May.
Postgame press conference:
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League