95-91: Unicaja returns against Baskonia and reaches the Belgrade final as leaders

Unicaja returned to the top of the Endesa League with the win against Baskonia (95-91). Tyson Carter played the central role, recording 19 points and 25 PIR, but the team showed a great team performance in evenly matched games, including some comebacks. .

Demonstrations of talent, quality baskets, and eye-catching basketball. That’s exactly what happened from start to finish in the national basketball classic, won by Unicaja, but Baskonia was even able to force it into overtime in the final seconds.

Thus, with this new victory, Unicaja will advance to the Final Four of the FIBA ​​Champions League to be held next weekend in Belgrade (Serbia) as the nationally and theoretically strongest team, defeating UCAM Murcia in the semi-finals.

Both teams tried their best to attack regardless of their condition, and the situation led to a beautiful duel of gunslingers. On the Basconista side, Sedekerskis (11 points in 4 innings) and Marinkovic (8 points), and composer Tyson has Carter (10).

Dusko Ivanovic’s rotation suited the team better than Yvon Navarro, and together with Chris Chiozza, Marcus Howard and Dani Diez, they narrowed the distance to 27-35 (10 minutes).

Trailing by 10 points from Baskonia at the beginning of the second quarter, Malaga’s team faced another challenge. It’s a rematch with the EuroLeague’s top eight teams that have all the names that can settle the match.

Unicaja spun up their defense and found in Melvin Edim the perfect prop to lead a small revolution, and the game was back on par with a spirited Carpena (39-42).

Baskonia saw Matt Costello rely entirely on his precise wrists and good handling of the boat despite his 2:08 height, and that momentum disappeared as Baskonia scored 20 points to break out. I was able to enter.

With an average 3-point shooting percentage of 64 percent (11/17), it will be difficult for the Vitoria team to break out of that wave, but there is still a second half to go and in Carpena, Unicaja always knows how to bounce back. Tracking.

The people of Malaga, no matter their name or surname, are a team of stars. Dylan Osekowski, who had points, and Jonathan Barreiro, who grabbed rebounds, led another small response.

But Baskonia quickly pulled itself back into a tie with its rivals, thanks to Rogkavopoulos’ triple that forced Yvon to take a timeout (60-71, 38 minutes). That led to a goal conceded later on.

Then, on the restart, Unicaja took the lead again (72-71) with an opening triple from Jedovic, a two-handed dunk from David Kravish, and another shot. The green hell of the stands, packed with 10,600 spectators, was conspicuous.

In that cloud of atmosphere and emotion, Unicaja felt comfortable and made it known to Baskonia, who found themselves trailing by eight points (83-75) with five minutes left.

With two minutes remaining, Unicaja hit two triples in a row and it looked like the Vitoria team was in the clear, but Howard entered the court and gave Baskonia a point and a lot of confidence, making the score tight again.

With 27 seconds and 40 minutes remaining, the scoreboard read 93-91, Howard hit a triple in front of Alberto Díaz, but the shot bounced off the frame, leaving Unicaja with victory number 25.

data sheet

Unicaja-Basconia, 95-91

95- Unicaja (27+21+18+29): Diaz (2), Carter (19), Barreiro (0), Osetkowski (16), Kravish (17) -Starting Quintet- Edim (13), Kalinoski ( 2), Taylor (12), Jedovic (7), Thomas (2), Perry (5), Sima (0).

91- Baskonia (35+19+17+20): Miller-McIntyre (7), Marinkovic (15), Sedekelskis (16), Rogkavopoulos (3), Kozar (0) -Starting Quintet- Howard (15), Laieste (6), Chiozza (2), Diez (3), Costello (24).

Referees: Juan Carlos García González, Rafael Serrano, Javier Torres. Baskonia native Marcus Howard was eliminated with five fouls.

Incident: The match corresponding to round 30 of the Endesa Basketball League was played in front of 10,681 spectators (full house) at the José María Martín Carpena Pavilion in Málaga.