Peñarol defeated Nacional 74-64 at Palacio Peñarol for the last date of the regular phase of the Uruguayan Basketball League.
Penarol, who was already qualified for the playoffs, finished in fourth place and will play the quarterfinals with the winner of Malvín and Urunday Universitario or Olivol Mundial, who will meet this Monday to define the second relegation.
Nacional was looking to improve its ninth place but he already knew in advance that he must play the play-in to compete for a place in the quarterfinals.
Peñarol, directed by Pablo López, began playing with Salvador Zanotta, the Mexican Orlando Méndez, Martín Aguilera, John Flowers and Lee Roberts.
Leonardo Carreno
Paul Lopez
Nacional, directed by Miguel Volcan, did so with Manuel Romero, Mauro Zubiaurre, Dominique Morrison, Quincy Miller and Johndre Jefferson.
Leonardo Carreno
Michael Volcano
The game was played only with fans of Peñarol because in the first round, the classic was played in Unión Atlética only with National partials. Peñarol won it agonizingly by 76-75.
The Ministry of the Interior set up a security operation with the presence of 89 police officers.
Leonardo Carreno
Peñarol fans
First quarter
The start of the game was erratic and lackluster, with a lot of nerve on the part of both teams.
Peñarol started ahead with four goals and four rebounds from Flowers, but Nacional reacted through Manuel Romero and was able to turn it around (8-6) and take a four-point lead (12-8).
Leonardo Carreno
Salvador Zanotta and Manuel Romero
However, Pablo López’s team closed it better and achieved the only triple of the opening quarter, through Méndez and went up 15-12.
Second bedroom
Despite the fact that Nacional absorbed quickly at the start of the second quarter, Peñarol’s game flowed better and with 6’30” remaining he managed to open a maximum of six points (23-17) with a dominant Lee Roberts in the paint (8 points and 4 rebounds).
That led Volcan to ask for time and Nacional’s defensive adjustments were immediate. Jefferson grew in attack (9 points, 5 rebounds) and the game was tied (25-25).
Leonardo Carreno
Johndre Jefferson and Lee Roberts
Five points in a row from Quincy Miller took Nacional up (32-30) and on the last ball, after a poor shot selection by Flowers, the tricolor played it very badly but after a chip on the glass, Jonathan Sacco slapped it to widen the advantage and go to the long break four up (34-30).
Miller finished as the top scorer in the first half with 10 points while Roberts parked in 8 points in Peñarol.
In terms of numbers, the difference was not in the rebound (22 from each side), nor in the assists (5-5) nor in the turnovers (4 from Peñarol, 5 from Nacional) but rather in the percentages of success: Nacional had 50% efficiency in doubles against Peñarol’s 41% and in triples the aurinegro was 1 of 9, that of Méndez while the tricolor scored 3 of 13, 2 by Miller and one by Morrison.
Leonardo Carreno
Johndre Jefferson
Third quarter
Peñarol changed the tread in a matter of seconds with a triple by Méndez. Added to that was a quick 9-0 run to turn the score around, forcing Volcan to a new time call.
Peñarol reached a maximum of 11 points (46-37) and in the third quarter he established conditions with a great collective attitude in defense, fast counterattacks led by a brilliant Salvador Zanotta and distributed scoring.
Martín Aguilera scored seven points in the quarter with great offensive performances, which added to all the good he did in defense, his strength.
Roberts climbed to 12 points and the aurinegro reached an ostensible difference in counterattack points: 15-2. In addition, Peñarol dominated the offensive rebound (11-5) to get several second chance points.
Nacional, incredibly, went nine minutes without scoring field goals until Morrison, who had scored free kicks, broke the spell. The difference in the fourth was 23 to 10. In the game it was even more noticeable.
Last room
Roberts also started the last quarter on fire and Peñarol got a maximum lead of 12 (56-44).
The trend of the third quarter was maintained at the end. Peñarol, strong in defense, neutralized all of Nacional’s offensive weapons and with Aguilera’s great defense against Morrison -by far, the one he wanted the most in Nacional- and when he didn’t counterattack to Zanotta’s rhythm, he hurt Roberts in the paint or found Méndez to a thoughtful player to assist and decisive to define.
Flowers saved the best for the final five minutes: a breakaway 3-pointer and an intimidating block on Jefferson.
The latter was conspicuous by his absence and his game was graphed in a brilliant cover that he put on Roberts, which was followed by a slow and predictable handling where the ball was stolen in the blink of an eye.
Miller kept the 10 points of the first half.
Morrison was the top scorer of the night with 23 touchdowns.
Peñarol, who scored 23 counterattack points and doubled Nacional in offensive rebounds (14-7), had a Roberts as a figure with 17 points and 10 rebounds, seconded by Flowers with 14-9. Zanotta gave five assists, Méndez stole three balls and hit two three-pointers, an item where the aurinegro finished 5-4 up on a failed night on both perimeters.
As in Unión Atlética, Peñarol celebrated at the Palace. He won both classics and is emboldened for the playoffs. With a winning attitude.
I followed the statistics of the match here.
The match
First quarter: Penarol 15-12
Second quarter: National 34-30
Third quarter: Penarol 53-44
Final: Penarol 74-64
