Baskonia's streak eludes Giedraitis
Ivanovic's men beat Estrella Roja despite the inspiration in the Buesa Arena from their former player
MADRID, 8 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Baskonia beat Estrella Roja (87-85) this Friday on matchday 13 of the Euroleague held at the Fernando Buesa Arena, where the locals had a great first half and lived off the income to assault the 'Top 4' of the classification .
With only one defeat in the last eight games, Dusko Ivanovic's men, fourth with eight wins, continue the good European dynamic with the Montenegrin coach. Former Baskonia player Rokas Giedraitis (24 points) threatened to spoil the night in Vitoria, spitting his last shot into the hoop to win the game, but the locals scored an even finish.
Until a month and a half ago, Ivanovic's team was grateful to go into the break deep in the game (52-43), after a first half of Barça dominance. Baskonia found rhythm and success, but abused the triple and ended up giving up their cushion, giving life to the Serbians. Eleven goals from the three-point line, with four from Markus Howard, was not enough to take off on the scoreboard.
After a 26-18 lead in the opening quarter, the Basque team had it in their power to score, against a Red Star team that was outmatched in defense but with increasingly frequent sparks from Giedraitis, or Milos Teodosic and Nemanja Nedovic. Chima Moneke took over from Howard but the local sensation was not the best at half-time.
Those from Vitoria lived off the gains in the second half, going down to a solitary triple in the third quarter, which Miller-McIntyre made up at the horn. The American point guard was not successful but at least he shared the game in a last set where Red Star died on the shore.
The energy that Mitrovc put in was matched by Sedekerskis and Rogkavopoulos, but Baskonia had to hold on to the Buesa Arena in another heart-stopping finish because of Giedraitis. The former Basque player found the success that he had not had until now with Red Star and made Ivanovic suffer to extend his streak.
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: BASKONIA, 87 – RED STAR, 85. (52-43, at halftime).
–EQUIPMENT.
BASCONY: Miller-McIntyre (4), Marinkovic (9), Ten (2), Sedekerskis (18) and Kotsar (6) — starting quintet–; Howard (17), Chiozza (2), Rogkavopoulos (14), Moneke (15), Raieste (-), Diop (-).
RED STAR: Teodosic (13), Lazarevic (2), Nedovic (7), Davidovac (-) and Bolomboy (14) — starting quintet–; Mitrovc (8), Yago (3), Lazic (9), Giedratis (24), Tobey (5).
–PARTIALS: 26-18, 26-25, 15-19, 20-23.
–REFEREES: Zamojski, Vyklicky and Bittner. Bolomboy eliminated due to fouls.
–PAVILLION: Fernando Buesa Arena.