89-96: Laguna Tenerife attacks Fontajo with a great van Beck.

This Saturday, Laguna Tenerife stormed the fortress of Fontajau and celebrated a hard-fought victory (89-96) against Basketball Girona, thanks to the great play of Wesley van Beck, who scored 27 points with 8/9 triples.

The American guard, along with Aaron Doornekamp and Marcelinho Huertas (14), captained the Chusas Vidoretta team to their second consecutive league win and eighth out of 11 games. Tenerife finished 18/31 with triples (58%).

Coach Moncho Fernández’s side went head-to-head with the team in fourth place in the Endesa League from start to finish, thanks to a great performance from Otis Livingston II (23 years old) and Sergi Martínez (20th and 26th place in rating credits), but their winning streak at Fontahau ended at four.

They have already played six of the top seven teams and will remain in the quiet zone of this class with four wins out of 10 rounds.

Girona started well and quickly took a promising 8-point lead with a triple by Martinas Geben (15-7), but Tenerife fought back with a 2-10 lead and ended the first period with their first advantage on a basket by Rokas Guidoraitis (21-22).

The visiting team had already begun to show why they are the best team in the league in terms of three-point shooting accuracy (40%), with Wesley van Beck hitting two triples and Aaron Doornekamp and Bruno Fittipaldo hitting one triple.

Tenerife started the second period with another triple from Van Beck and a new basket from Huertas (21-27), forcing Moncho to take a timeout at 70 seconds. Joan Sastre took the lead with nine points from around the 6.75 meter line (23-32).

The local team came close with triples from Guillem Ferrando and Juan Fernandez (29-34), but Van Beck neutralized the reaction with two more triples. He looked 5/5 and scored 18 points in just 10 minutes on the hardwood.

The advantage reached 12 points (34-46), but Girona did not want to give up. He resurfaced with Sergi Martinez’s triple, and Mark Hughes (41-46) brought them within five points.

Van Beck culminated an incredible first half with 6/6 triples, but Martínez responded with 3/3, and the match went into half-time with everything scored (44-49).

The Catalan forward had 17 rating credits. Both teams made more 3-pointers than 2-pointers, 53% vs. 40% and 60% vs. 58%.

At the start of the second half, Livingston II scored six points to tie the game. He scored 10 points in the first five minutes of the third quarter, bringing his total to 15 points. Girona regained the lead (52-51).

Martinez made no mistake and hit his fourth triple, but Van Beck was unstoppable and continued to do his job. His eighth triple in eight attempts made it 64-68. He had already scored 27 points.

The two teams took turns taking the lead. Hughes and Nikola Maric made a 9-0 run that forced another timeout (73-68) and Girona ended the third quarter up 31-24 (75-73).

technical sheet

Basketball Girona vs. La Laguna Tenerife, 89-96

89 – Basketball Girona (21+23+31+14): Livingston II (23), Needham (5), Martinez (20), Sucinskas (-), Maric (6) – starting five. Busquets (2), Vildosa (-), Hughes (13), Fernandes (8), Goeben (6), Ferland (6).

96 – La Laguna Tenerife (22+27+24+23): Huertas (14), Fitipaldo (8), Scrubb (10), Doornekamp (14), Shermadini (2) – starting five. Sastre (7), Van Beck (27), Guerra (4), Giedreitis (7), Abromaitis (3), Bordon (-).

Referees: Arriaga, Martinez, Merino. Eliminated local Fernandes (38 minutes).

Incident: Round 11 of the Endesa League was played in front of 4,669 fans at the Pavello de Fontahau in Girona.

Giedraitis made his 15th triple for the visitors in 25 tries, and Tenerife still had a good 60% (75-76), but Livingston II responded with his 13th home team with 24 (80-78).

Van Beck missed his ninth triple for the first time, but Fittipaldo made it at a crucial moment to make it 80-83 at first and 81-87 with three minutes left.

Girona was still within four points thanks to Livingston II (87-91), but Doornekamp’s triple with 25 seconds left sealed the game and capped Fontaggio’s onslaught.