By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
In the second-ever Basketball Champions League clash between Lenovo Tenerife and BAXI Manresa following last year’s final, Txus Vidorreta’s team won 91-84 in the Santiago Martin Arena, leading the best-of-three Quarter-Finals series.
Giorgi Shermadini provided a really efficient performance, ending the game with 18 points and 6 rebounds, shooting 7/9 from two. His partner in crime Marcelinho Huertas, who has made an average of 8.4 assists per game in his previous 20 BCL appearances where he played 20+ minutes, went close to a double-double with 13 points and 9 dimes, but also registered 9 turnovers.
Sasu Salin, one of the most clutch protagonists of the 2022 Basketball Champions League winning campaign by Lenovo Tenerife, had 16 points with 4/10 from beyond the arc. Bruno Fitipaldo added the same amount off the bench. Unfortunately, Leandro Bolmaro got injured after 02:09 minutes of playing time.
On BAXI Manresa’s side, Jerrick Harding was once again the highest scorer with 21 points while being perfect at the charity stripe (5/5). He made 91.4% of his free throws in his previous nine games in the competition (32/35).
As expected, Devin Robinson followed with 15 points and 6 rebounds. Except for Adam Waczynski with 12 points, they were the only two players on Pedro Martinez’s team to score in double-digits. Overall, BAXI Manresa struggled on rebounds (42 vs 27), but scored more points from turnover (25 vs 8), getting more steals (11 vs 4).
After winning Game 1, the reigning champions will now have to come out victorious from Manresa on April 12 at 20:45 as well to get to the Final Four in back-to-back fashion.
PHOTO CREDIT: Basketball Champions League