Melilla Sport Capital Enrique Soler: Orrit (10), Stankevicius, Bilalovic (22), Fravert (13) and Fall (4) -initial quintet-, Poyatos (15), Ndiaye (4), Elan (9), Gallardo (7) ) and Ortells (5).
Talavera: Cooper (17), Ganal (8), Thomas (18), Alvaro Martinez (6) and Andrejevic (20) – the starting quintet – Castillo, Peris (2), Astilleros (2) and Bottenberg (2).
Referees: Sáez Ruiz and Chiva López (Valencian Committee).
Partials: 17-16, 21-22 (38-38), 33-15 (71-55), 18-22 (89-75).
Guillermo Garcia Pezzi Pavilion. 600 spectators.
Talavera succumbed to CAM Enrique Soler from Melilla in a direct duel for trying to get out of the lower zone. The team from Talavera suffered a disastrous partial in the third quarter and life in the classification is complicated by its poor dynamics as a visitor, since it has lost in all its trips.
The first contact could not have been more positive for Ricardo Uriz’s men. Led by a total Álvaro Martínez on both sides of the field, they posted an early 2-12 run that caused the first timeout for the azulón team. The reaction was swift and the team from Melilla caught Talavera off guard on their return to the track. After forcing several turnovers and running on the counterattack, Javier Nieto’s players gained in aggressiveness, something that allowed them to turn the score around to go ahead at the end of the first quarter with a 17-16 score culminating in a two plus one score from Poyatos.
The bad moment of the Talavera team moved to the second quarter. From the final minute and a half of the first quarter, the players of the white team failed to score any points in more than four minutes, until Thomas broke that streak. The emotional factor of seeing the hoop again boosted Talavera, which cut the difference to two points at the hands of Cooper. The American point guard had disappeared in the first quarter due to a foul problem and his contribution in the second was key to the interests of his team. He left at halftime with nine points and a pristine three of three on three-pointers. Precisely, the outside shot was one of the main arguments of the Talavera team in the first half, since he made six shots with a 50 percent accuracy rate, a more than remarkable percentage.
The return to the field felt very bad for Talavera. In the first four minutes of the third quarter, the team from Melilla once again took off on the scoreboard with a 15-5 run. A Fravert dunk put the point of maximum exaltation for the Azulón team and complicated the contest for Uriz’s men, who completely neglected the area in this third period: the hosts had 48 of their 71 points in the paint.
The bleeding reflected an almost insurmountable 71-53 at the beginning of the last quarter and the Talavera team did not provide any type of reaction. Only Andrejevic and Thomas had some lucid moment, although it was not enough to re-engage in a contest that ended with a result of 89-75, in a game that Talavera let go in a disastrous third quarter.
