Málaga (EFE).- A reliable Lenovo Tenerife managed to get third place in the FIBA Champions League, beating the host, Unicaja, 79-84 in a match where the people from Malaga paid dearly for their drought in the second quarter.
The success of both teams from the triple that was seen from the beginning of the game was impossible to maintain until the end. A consolation final that went through several phases but ended up being what was expected, a matched duel in defense-attack rhythm.
Unicaja, in the middle of the feast from 6.75 in the first quarter, found regularity from a spectacular two plus one from Kendrick Perry, cheered by the local fans to give him encouragement after missing the last decisive shot in the semifinals, and was able to enlarge distances, but Vidorreta’s team was not willing to do so.
Another triple aurinegro and two good consecutive attacks put the Canaries ahead (23-29) in a first quarter with shooting percentages of surreal three: six of seven for Lenovo, three of six for Unicaja.
Small battles were fought inside the floor, such as the physical clash between Elgin Cook and Jonathan Barreiro, the one to close the rebound with Gio Shermadini and Yankuba Sima or the point guards of the national team, but this Sunday more rivals than ever, Jaime Fernández and Alberto Diaz.
That physical intensity pushed both teams to the limit and the refereeing trio found themselves overwhelmed, stopping the game with too many fouls, almost all against Unicaja, who fell into that trap while Tenerife slowly left (34 -43).
Until he did it more seriously, through a 5-0 run with a three-pointer from Marcelinho Huertas and Elgin Cook. He asked Ibon Navarro for a timeout, aware that his team was lost in ideas and execution, with very avoidable turnovers.
Unicaja’s bad second quarter, in which they scored just nine points to Tenerife’s 22, was a slab that the locals had to lift after the break, which was reached at 38-53.
With such a considerable advantage of 15 points, the team from Tenerife held on to the game with strength and intelligence, they did not allow themselves to be minimized by the chaos that Unicaja, overwhelmed by their anxiety in attack, wanted to achieve.
With Huertas-Cook-Shermadini as a trident of reliability, the 15 advantage remained at 14 in the third act, where defenses predominated and thus, Lenovo Tenerife stood in the last quarter with the tense calm of dominating and undermining the morale to the people of Malaga, who fell into a bad shooting streak.
Then, almost out of nowhere, Unicaja emerged, with more heart and grit than sanity, closing the defensive rebound and making very difficult shots (Perry, Carter), the difference was already five points at 4:24 to go. .
It was Kendrick Perry, with his 22 points, he was a blessing for Unicaja in their comeback attempt, but to each basket via penetration by the Montenegrin, the people of Tenerife responded with shots under the hoop and a triple by Bruno Fitipaldo (68-76).
The locals, with bloodshot eyes, scored three consecutive baskets to tie the game at 76 with just over a minute to go; again, this final phase of the Champions League was going to be decided at the last moments.
Jaime Fernández responded to the compositor’s whirlwind with a two plus one and with 12.7 seconds left, a shot on the brink of the end of possession by Aaron Doornekamp sealed the victory for Lenovo Tenerife.
– Datasheet:
79 – Unicaja (29+9+14+27): Díaz (3), Kalinoski (9), Djedovic (7), Ejim (3), Kravish (8) -starting five- Brizuela (4), Carter (8) , Osetkowski (2), Perry (22), Thomas (6), Barreiro (7) and Sima (0).
84 – Lenovo Tenerife (31+22+13+18): Fitipaldo (8), Salin (0), Cook (11), Doornekamp (11), Guerra (0) -starting five-, Fernández (12), Sastre ( 10), Bolmaro (0), Huertas (10), Abromaitis (10) and Shermadini (12).
Referees: Wojciech Liszka (Poland), Gatis Salins (Latvia), Kerem Baki (Turkey). They eliminated Bruna Fitipado, from Lenovo Tenerife, for five personal fouls.
Incidents: Match for the third and fourth place of the FIBA Champions League played at the Palacio de los Deportes José María Martín Carpena. EFE
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