To meet the last semifinalist of the tournament, Stockolmo and Sayago faced each other. The first came from tying the series, after beating their rival by 30 points. The second, who had won the opening game with a triple from “Lalo” Fernández on the horn, knew that they could not have a worse performance than last Thursday. The team led by Gonzalo Fernández took the field with Juan Andrés Galletto, Demian Álvarez, Gianfranco Espíndola, Argentine Leonardo Mainoldi and Mauricio Arregui. For their part, those led by Nicolás Díaz began with Germán Silvarrey, Mateo Dogliotti, Joaquín Jones, Nahuel Lemos and the Lithuanian Zygimantas Riauka. The arbitration shortlist was made up of Enrique Ferreira, Claudio Cetta and Marcelo Galli.
The match played at the CEFUBB presented a favorable start to the Prado, who took things where they had left the last match. With outside pitches from Demian Álvarez and Gianfranco Espíndola, they made it 8-0 in the first minutes of the game. Little by little, those of Ariel and the road were matching the actions, being important for this, the triples of Nahuel Lemos and the penetrations of Germán Silvarrey. At the end of the first period, with six points in a row from Joaquín Jones, Saya managed to go forward for the first time that night. The start of the second quarter was very similar to the start of the second game, where both teams had problems scoring, to some extent due to the good posture of the defenses. With a good re-entry of Mauricio Arregui, who had left the court with a knee ailment, Castro and Pena on the way again took a small advantage on the scoreboard, although it was quickly neutralized by his rival, at the hands of “Bola ”Silvarrey. The first 20 minutes of play went with Stockolmo in front in figures of 33 to 30.
At the beginning of the complement, with a double by Lemos and a triple by Jones, Sayago managed to go on to win again. Blue’s response was immediate, that with a good effectiveness from the perimeter of Álvarez and Mainoldi, plus a couple of runs by Espíndola, he put a quick 13-2 to get an income of nine points (46-37), which was the maximum up to that moment. As basketball is a streaky sport, those from the north did not let themselves be broken and with three good defenses, added to a couple of consecutive scores from Riauka and Silvarrey, they managed to equalize the score at 49 points per side. In a game in which there was so much at stake, it was expected that nervousness would play an important role, especially when reaching the final moments. Gonzalo Fernández’s men took advantage of Demian and Mainoldi’s experience to open a six-point lead. Those commanded by Nicolás Díaz tried by all means to put themselves at stake, more than anything at individual impulses. However, a double by Juan Andrés Galletto in the absence of 18 seconds finished sentencing the match. Finally, Stockolmo was left with the triumph by 69 to 62 and got into the semifinals, where he will fight with Olivol Mundial for promotion to the Uruguayan League.
The winner was the performance of Demian Álvarez, who scored 21 points, well accompanied by Leonardo Mainoldi with 17 points and 15 rebounds. On the loser’s side, Nahuel Lemos finished as the top scorer with 16 points.
