By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
BELGRADE, Serbia – They did it in 2017 and 2022, they came close in 2019, they went home with the bronze medal in 2023, and they have now secured another chance to win the Basketball Champions League.
Surviving in the fourth quarter to finally escape with the 97-93 win over Peristeri, Lenovo Tenerife has written another chapter of its history, and will now face the winner of the second Semi-Finals between UCAM Murcia and Unicaja Malaga.
Scoring 15 or more points in his previous five appearances as a starter in the Basketball Champions League, Kyle Guy had already scored 14 at the end of the second quarter. The former Joventut Badalona and Panathinaikos guard finished with 34 points over 6/10 from three-point range.
Playing his third consecutive Final Four with the black-and-yellow Spanish team, Marcelinho Huertas took over in the third quarter and ended with an all-around stat-line of 27 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists, shooting 10/15 from two-point range. His partner Giorgi Shermadini pushed Tenerife to reach the BCL Final with 21 points. He also became the All-Time BCL leading scorer (1114 points).
Struggling to make an impact in the second half, Joe Ragland ended with a 14-point losing effort. Elijah Mitrou-Long also tried to contribute with 18 points and 6 assists, but he wasn’t enough. Trevor Thompson added 11 points and 4 rebounds in the battle under the rim with Tenerife’s center.
Nemanja Dangubic gave his team another chance to dream with a three-pointer under sixty seconds of playing time for the two-point deficit, but that wasn’t sufficient. The Serbian player ended with 13 points and 5 rebounds in front of his long-time friend and former Crvena Zvezda teammate Luka Mitrovic.
According to Stats Perform, the team leading at the end of the first quarter (Peristeri, 23-19) has won five of the previous seven Basketball Champions League Semi-Finals. However, Lenovo Tenerife turned things around in the second quarter, leading 43-42 at halftime.
The team leading at half-time ended up winning nine of the last ten BCL Semi-Finals. Moreover, Lenovo Tenerife won 25 of their 27 previous BCL games in which they were leading at half-time. They ended up doing it, once again.
“Kyle is a good guy.”
After the game, Tenerife’s head coach Txus Vidorreta gave his impressions at the press conference:
“We knew that we needed a triangle – Marcelinho Huertas, Kyle, and Gio – and things were perfect. We controlled the pace, did a good job, and we did it. I saw that Marcelinho was sure in his mind in the final quarter. The others did a very good job, but these three players decided the game.”
He explained the Kyle Guy eruption with his side since arriving from Panathinaikos.
“He’s a very good guy, and this kind of guy fills the chemistry immediately. He also has a good relationship with me. He knew we needed a player like him; he tries to improve his defense and do his thing, and we try to give him space. We enjoy having him, and now we can play our first final together,” Vidorreta concluded.
His younger opponent from the bench of Peristeri, Vassilis Spanoulis, shared his thoughts and praised his side despite the loss.
“It was the game we expected, tough; sometimes it seemed we controlled the game, sometimes we made not-so-smart turnovers. In the end, we managed to be 2 down with 40-50 seconds left. My team fought a lot; Marcelinho and Guy had a big day and scored some baskets due to miscommunications. My players had an amazing season, big heart. I’m very proud of them,” Spanoulis said.
Postgame press conference
PHOTO CREDIT: Basketball Champions League