The 'taronja' team falls against Panathinaikos (81-82) in La Fonteta
MADRID, 5 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Valencia Basket lost this Friday 81-82 at home against Panathinaikos, despite the outstanding performance of Semi Ojeleye, in a match corresponding to matchday 19 of the Regular Phase of the Euroleague and which was decided by a missed triple by himself. Nigerian forward at the horn.
At the Fuente de San Luis Pavilion, the locals were down 3-9 and turned it around to 14-10, thanks to the contribution above all of their starting point guard Chris Jones. The Greek team responded with successes from Kendrick Nunn from mid-range and Mathias Lessort in the low post, with occasional help from Juancho Hernangómez.
Precisely a clap from Hernangómez on the horn closed the first quarter (23-22), which had shown a good Valencian version. In fact, Álex Mumbrú's pupils stretched this advantage in the opening stages of the second act to +7 (33-26); Stefan Jovic had even opened his points tally for the first time with a triple (36-29).
In that statistic from beyond the arc, Panathinaikos needed to improve quickly, after their poor 1/6 in the opening period. And the person in charge of this was Luca Vildoza, with two baskets almost in a row that culminated a visitor comeback (36-37). Semi Ojeleye entered the scene with a triple and another good action that made it 47-44.
But the 'PAO' did not give up and Jerian Grant scored the last basket before the break from three points. He emulated his teammate Konstantinos Mitoglou (47-50) right at the beginning of the third period, which Valencia Basket choked on in the first interventions in front of the basket.
The 'taronja' team went 50-59 down after a triple by Vildoza, although La Fonteta throughout this season avoids disconnections between its players. A dunk by Brandon Davies demonstrated this, immediately followed by a triple by Jared Harper that unleashed a brilliant offensive streak.
Harper himself put the local team ahead again (60-59), with a triple answered by another quick one from Vildoza. Harper repeated with a 3+1 play (66-63), although Nunn appeased the Fonteta stands (66-66). Valencia was missing more dominance under the boards and Nathan Reuvers came to the fore with three consecutive points.
That 69-66 led to the fourth quarter, in which Xabi López-Arostegui and Semi Ojeleye put Panathinaikos away a little (73-66). Vildoza, of course, stopped the bleeding with a triple. Ergin Ataman's students were still more than involved in the game and tied it (77-77) with another key triple by Marius Grigonis and a subsequent dunk by Mathias Lessort.
Two minutes to go and the tension growing everywhere in La Fonteta, especially after a 2+1 achieved by Damien Inglis (80-77), following a foul committed by Hernangómez in the fight for the rebound. Two Grant free throws tightened things up (80-79), and Grant himself wanted the hero's cape with a defensive rebound and his counterattack.
OUTLINE OF PURE TENSION
However, the number 22 of the greens missed a shot on the bulb and to make matters worse he was fouled by a slap in his attempt to steal the ball. In a very fast attack, Jones was 'hunted' by the omnipresent Grant on his way to score a layup; The 'taronja' point guard made only one free throw in that series, with 33.3 still to be played.
Ataman called a timeout and set up a plan, masterfully executed by Vildoza in a board penetration. Mumbrú also spent a timeout right after, with 81-81 in the pavilion's light, and Harper was the one who played the shot of possible victory while the remaining 18.8 ran if they wanted to avoid overtime.
Harper's three-pointer bounced off the iron and Davies fouled Lessort in the fight for the rebound. Valencia was in bonus and Lessort enjoyed free kicks for success. Although he missed the first, he scored the second; and then with 1.9 on the stopwatch, Ojeleye remanguillé shot from far away in a corner, with no luck.
This defeat 'in extremis' left the 'taronja' team with a balance of 10-9, in the platoon of those who enter and leave the 'play-in' zone; For its part, Panathinaikos settled in the 'top 6' with a record of 11-8 and continued its good autumn-winter dynamics.
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: VALENCIA BASKET, 81 – PANATHINAIKOS, 82 (47-47, at halftime).
–EQUIPMENT.
VALENCIA BASKET: Jones (10), Robertson (6), Ojeleye (13), Reuvers (7) and Inglis (7) –starting quintet–; Pradilla (2), Davies (10), Puerto (-), Anderson (4), Touré (), López-Arostegui (5), Jovic (5) and Harper (12).
PANATHINAIKOS: Grant (13), Nunn (7), Grigonis (11), Mitoglou (11) and Lessort (12) –starting quintet–; Vildoza (19), Hernangómez (4), Kalaitzakis (-) and Antetokounmpo (5).
–PARTIALS: 23-22, 24-25, 22-19 and 12-16.
–REFEREES: Difallah, Jovcic and Shemmesh. No eliminated.
–PAVILLION: San Luis Fountain.