By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
For 20 minutes, things looked quite dark for Baskonia against Murcia in Vitoria. But Andrea Bargnani shed enough light to brighten his team’s game in the second half, where the Basques dominated to take a 87 – 75 victory.
The Italian center scored 16 out of his 20 points after the return from the locker rooms, helping Baskonia absolutely reverse the tables after falling back 37 – 22 at the end of the first half.
It was Facu Campazzo’s (13 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds) wizard-like guidance, that had helped Murcia getting off to a fantastic start (10 – 23 after 10 minutes) and give quite a scare to its opponents for the remainder of the first half.
Yet the home team responded in style. With Bargnani, Jaka Blazic (14 points) and Tornike Shengelia (13 points, 6 rebounds) feeding Sito Alonso’s offensive machine well enough to produce 65 points in the third and fourth period, Baskonia completed a great comeback to celebrate beginning with 2/2 in this season’s Liga Endesa.
Murcia was stunned by its hosts dynamic entrance after the halftime break, losing the mojo with which it started the match. Billy Baron was the team’s top scorer with 15 points.