Carpena closes the vibrant battle of Unicaja and UCAM for the final
The Andalusians seek to culminate in a date with history their effort to avoid the celebration of the Murcian team, which already went 0-2 in Malaga
MADRID, 4 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Unicaja receives UCAM Murcia this Wednesday (8:30 p.m.) in the fifth game of the semifinals of the Playoff for the Endesa League title, after forcing the Andalusian team to make it 2-2 in the series and overturning the brilliant start of the ‘university team’ ‘ who are looking to repeat their victory away from home and get into their first domestic final, while the locals will be supported by their fans to complete the comeback and meet Real Madrid.
The Andalusian and Murcian teams will put an end to a series full of basketball and emotions at the Martín Carpena. Ibon Navarro’s men recovered from the two defeats suffered in front of their home crowd and were able to give back to their rival at the Palacio de los Deportes to force the fifth and decisive match that will be decided in Malaga. And history supports Unicaja, since with 2-2 in the semifinals, 16 of the previous 20 in the last duel ended with victory for the host.
Unicaja beat UCAM Murcia 79-88 to equalize (2-2) the semi-final ‘Playoff’ with a brilliant first half and tenacity in the second half to sustain the reaction of Sito Alonso’s team. Dylan Osetkowski (22 points), Kendrick Perry (13 points and 7 assists) and Tyson Carter (17) were the best for the Andalusians, who are seeking their fourth Endesa League final this Wednesday.
In front of their audience, they can once again fight for a title they have not won since 2006, a season in which they beat Baskonia in the final, after, like this year, finishing at the top of the table in the Regular Season. Since 2008, all the champions of that phase have reached the final.
However, never in a semi-final has a 0-2 been overturned, so Unicaja is one step away from making history and completing its titanic effort to avoid the Murcian party, clearly improving its staging compared to the first two duels. who fell on the side of the university team, combative to the utmost despite having fewer pieces to do so.
Now, if UCAM Murcia wants to be in that long-awaited and historic final, it will have to once again beat the best venue in the Regular Phase of the Endesa League, with only two defeats at the Martín Carpena. In the League, the Murcia team was not very solid, but in the ‘Playoff’ it has transformed and all its victories have been precisely away from the Murcia Sports Palace.
After wasting the two opportunities at home to reach the first final in their history, Carpena now enters the scene. But this is not the first major decisive meeting between both teams this season. And this year Belgrade witnessed some tight semi-finals between Unicaja and UCAM which, like this Wednesday, played everything in one match in the ‘semi’ of the BCL.
The cajistas won 74-80 and advanced to a final that they also won to lift the European title. The university team was already able to overcome the tension of a third final match in the quarterfinals against Valencia Basket, but they will need to recover their best offensive version with which they dominated the first two matches and avoid, as happened at home, that the Ibon Navarro escaped too soon to play more comfortably.
DATASHEET.
–EQUIPMENT.
UNICAJA: Carter, Perry, Barreiro, Thomas and Kravish –possible starting quintet–; Perry, Osetkowski, Kalinoski, Ejim, Taylor, Díaz, Djedovic and Sima.
UCAM MURCIA: Ennis, Hakanson, R.Kurucs), Sleva and Morin –possible starting quintet–; Diagné, Caupain, Radebaugh, Sant-Ross, Flores, Jelinek and Falk.
–REFEREES: Benjamín Jiménez, Óscar Perea and Carlos Cortés
–PAVILLION: Martín Carpena.
–TIME: 20.30/#Let’s go.