After their magnificent comeback on Wednesday to catapult themselves to the semifinals of the FIBA Europe Cup, Surne Bilbao Basket put the cherry on top of their fantastic week this Sunday with another unappealable victory against Joventut (92-71) that confirms its excellent moment when it acts as a local and opens a gap of four victories above the relegation zone with eight days left until the competitive curtain goes down.
Against a much larger rival than Legia Warsaw, the Biscayan team acted with the same forcefulness, energy and edge, dominating the events on the field from the halfway point of the opening ceremony, consolidating their advantage in the second part of the third quarter and playing ten Extraordinary final minutes both in attack and defense as confirmed by the partial score of 26-13. The 16-4 in the first six minutes of the last quarter to go from 66-58 to 82-62 was the demonstration of those very high game maximums that Jaume Ponsarnau usually brings up in numerous press conferences when talking about his team.
From a magnificent rearguard job despite the fact that at times Ante Tomic did a lot of damage and with a fluid attack and with various sources of danger and moments of protagonism (brutal 58-29 in scoring from the bench), Jaume Ponsarnau’s men knew how to exploit that script that they like so much: defend, rebound, run and score. The 18-7 in points against was a good starting point towards success and served to cover up another poor performance from the free throw linewith ten failures and 9 of 11 in the last ten minutes making up the final 54%.
Kristian Kullamae, who finished with 17 points, perfectly fulfilled the role of constant reference in attack; Tryggvi Hlinason, very well rebounding and intimidating and scoring 10 of his 14 points in the last quarter to break the score; Adam Smith generating attention, points and assists (6) and Keith Hornsby recovering his success and revolutionizing the encounter in the second act With two triples on the counterattack, the hosts always moved their offensive figures with joy while Carles Duran’s men acted in fits and starts, visibly uncomfortable and off script.
TO SIMMER
Surne Bilbao Basket started tremendously imprecise. In less than three minutes he had already missed three free throws, as many shots within a hand’s breadth of the rim and had lost a ball. In those circumstances, Their good defensive work was not enough to prevent Joventut from taking early control of the bright (4-9), although he balanced it quickly with the help of Álex Reyes and Sacha Killeya-Jones. Ties were a constant until the end of the first act, although two triples by Thijs De Ridder and Hornsby meant that the hosts were the ones to close the first ten minutes with an advantage (22-20).
Activating Hlinason under the rim to finish with two dunks and a triple from Smith, Ponsarnau’s men threatened with the score (29-20) eight and a half minutes before the break, forcing Duran to stop the game. The visitors tried to recover by adding three by three thanks to Andrés Feliz and Shannon Evans, but they found themselves in front of a Hornsby who He did the same with two triples on the counterattack and a basket under the rim to make it 39-28 midway through the second act. But the hosts were not able to consolidate that safety distance as a result of the accumulation of errors in attack and the second chances and ‘two plus one’ situations conceded in defense and punished above all by the incisive Tomic, a torment until the halfway point. of the contest, which was reached with a 44-40 that was little reward for the notable fifteen minutes of the home team’s start.
Blunt
At the restart, the great influence of the Croatian center in the game continued, finishing and providing baskets for his teammates, which was not good news for Surne Bilbao Basket, who accumulated inaccuracies in those measures. Kullamae was a great support for the hosts in those moments of a certain loss in the north and after both teams crossed unsportsmanlike paths with little benefit, the 54-51 score in the middle of the third quarter left things practically as they were. Some good defensive moments that allowed Melwin Pantzar and De Ridder to play at a gallop propelled the ‘men in black’ to the point of threatening another break, but the accumulation of missed free throws (horrible 3 of 11 in the first thirty minutes) prevented a cushion greater than the 66-58 with which the final act was reached. Notable advantage, but short considering the merits contracted.
However, the Biscayan team had saved the best for last. With excellent defensive activity as a fundamental pillar and feeding balls time after time to Hlinason, with Smith as master of ceremonies, those from Ponsarnau dwarfed his rival, forcing him to play with a gap, flirting with total dedication. 76-60 six minutes from the end It was extraordinary news. and although Tomic tried to lead the visitors’ resistance, Surne Bilbao Basket was not willing to take its foot off the accelerator. Two free throws from Pantzar inflated the cushion to 82-62 from which there was no way back. The final minutes were filler, fantastic news, and Surne Bilbao Basket was able to enjoy putting the cherry on top of their fantastic week.