Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (EFE).- Gran Canaria beat Joventut de Badalona (89-86) this Wednesday in an agonizing match to reach the Eurocup final for the second time in its history, in title before their audience next Wednesday against Turk Telekom Ankara.
Within the choral display exhibited by the locals, the Frenchman Andrew Albicy stood out with his 17 points and 4 assists along with the success in the final minutes of the Argentine Nico Brussino (14 points and 5 assists), making Feliz’s 21 and 18 sterile. de Tomic, in the visiting ranks.
Joventut made the most of the tepid start of the yellows to take the initiative with the guaranteed leadership of Parra and Tomic in the paint, although with two triples from Brussino and Slaughter, combined with a layup from Shurna, the Claretians managed to balance the balance in the middle of the first quarter (10-10).
From there, Carles Durán’s pupils gave speed to the game. Guillem Vives once again put the green-and-blacks at the forefront, but the entry of Inglis in the closing stages allowed the locals to close the first round with a slight advantage in electronics (18-15).
The inertia given off by the French power forward from Gran Canaria allowed his team to extend the streak with an 8-2 run as soon as the second period began (26-17) which forced Durán to request a timeout.
Joventut stopped depending on Tomic -8 points until the 12th minute- to give more scope to Feliz’s game, who managed to score 9 almost consecutive points (28-26).
Then Birgander would take over the scoring, trying to keep the score equal. Slaughter and Albicy tried to defuse the reaction from Badalona until the triples from Brodziansky and Guy arrived to change the sign at the Gran Canaria Arena (38-39).
With this, Joventut endured the pull until the conclusion of the first part, which was scored with a more than tight 42-43.
At the restart, the match continued under the same script: minimal differences, maximum tension and a continuous exchange of baskets that seemed to have no brake.
Feliz and Parra continued to give Joventut air while Brussino and Diop woke up from the perimeter and the paint to put the yellows ahead (54-52).
It was then the moment of the Senegalese Khalifa Diop, who put enough mortar in the local ring to stop the offensive flow of the Catalans.
With the armored trench, Slaughter and Brussino took advantage of Diop’s muscle to extend the advantage with an 11-2 run that allowed them to stand at the start of the last quarter with nine points up (65-56).
Already in the last round, Tomic and Feliz returned to assume the gallons to stop the bleeding (69-66). Benite held the yellow ship that now suffered from the visitors’ push and Inglis and Salvó took over to give Lakovic’s board oxygen (74-68 at 4:20 to go).
From there, the wrists and shots began to falter. Mistakes were piling up on both sides as time passed agonizingly. Until a triple from Albicy and a subsequent 1+1 from the French point guard put Badalona’s team against the ropes with 2:28 to go (79-70).
Gran Canaria began to lengthen possessions to take advantage of the rent, speeding up the free kicks and playing with the anxiety of a Joventut that could no longer overcome the clash despite the final attempts by Parra and Guy that put the emotion to the last second (89-86).
Datasheet:
89. Gran Canaria (18+24+23+24): Albicy (17), Brussino (14), Slaughter (9), Shurna (5) and Balcerowski (2) -initial team-; Inglis (11), K. Diop (9), Salvó (2), Bassas (5), Stevic (2) and Benite (13).
86. Joventut Badalona (15+28+13+30): Feliz (21), Tomic (18), Parra (12), Busquets (-) and Brodziansky (15) –initial team- Birgander (4), Ellenson (- ), Guy (9, Vives (7) and Ventura (-).
Referees: Milivoje Jovcic (Serbia), Amit Balak (Israel) and Gentian Cici (Albania). They eliminated by personal the local Olek Balcerowski and the visitors Guillem Vives, Andrés Feliz and Joel Parra.
Incidents: Match corresponding to the semifinals of the Eurocup -eliminatory to a single match- played at the Gran Canaria Arena before 8936 spectators. With the victory, Gran Canaria qualified for the final of the tournament, which will be played in their pavilion. EFE