By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Leading for nearly the entire 40 minutes, Lenovo Tenerife grabbed the 78-71 victory versus Hapoel U-NET Holon to start the Basketball Champions League Final Four Friday.
Marcelinho Huertas was the commanding figure registering 17 points, nine assists, and four rebounds in the Semifinal. “Winning a trophy is always special,” the 38-year-old Brazilian guard peeked in the championship game immediately after getting the job done in the semifinal, “We dream about it and work for it all year.”
The driving force inside, Giorgi Shermadini ended up with 14 points of his own. The Spanish team pulled down 45 versus 30 rebounds and outscored its opponents, 34-24, in the paint.
From a 12-point lead to trailing 69-68, Tenerife replied logging ten of the next 12 points down the stretch. Txus Vidorreta’s reached the BCL Final for the third time in team history, after winning the championship game of the inaugural season in 2017 and settling as the runner-up a couple of years later.
Masters of improbable comebacks over the 2021-22 Champions League season, Holon did it in again but the lone lead lasted merely 25 seconds in Bilbao.
Joe Ragland packing a game-high 22 points was not enough opposite the team based in San Cristobal de La Laguna.
The team coached by Guy Goodes struggling at Bilbao Arena included Chris Johnson. He recovered from an injury on his left arm early in the first quarter and sank a couple of three-pointers early in the fourth period but fouled out with a technical foul with 2:39 remaining. The Dayton product had 13 points. The second player fouling out, Rafi Menco scored 15 points. Niz Mizgav (ankle) did not play and Frederic Bourdillon (knee) was sidelined.
Coming up, MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg and Baxi Manresa to complete the championship and third-place contests. The Final Four will conclude on Sunday.
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League