Fontajau never ends the epic of the European nights and yesterday Spar Girona prevailed in a tachycardic duel against the reigning Euroleague champion, the Sopron. And, if that wasn’t enough, he did it with two injured (Binta Drammeh and Laura Cornelius) and with a rotation of eight players. Crystal Bradford did not play a single minute due to a “technical decision”, according to Bernat Canut, and the reality is that he is already being looked for as a replacement because he has not met expectations. But that’s not the case now. Epic touch, magic. If the sensations during the last three games had generated doubts for the two consecutive defeats and the victory in extra time against an affordable Gran Canaria in the last league duel, yesterday the Girona made a blow on the table by going up against the almighty Hungarian team in a match that the locals they had come to lose by 12 points in the first quarter and that was resolved in the last seconds thanks to the sang Freda de Tolo from the free kick and a providential block by Etxarri. The gironines take air and are co-leaders of the Euroleague grouptied with Sopron, Avenida and Schio (3-1).
Laia Flores’ opening triple was a mirage. The reigning champions of the competition turned around the opening basket of the Catalans with a catalog of shots by all their players that gave way to a partial from 0-8. Tolo and Magbegor, teammates in Australia, toasted a beautiful duel under the hoop. Bernat Canut’s men withstood the aggressive visitors, but they could not prevent the Hungarians from ten points at the close of the first quarter (11-21).
Gardner and Araújo revived Spar Girona to lower the barrier of ten points. But the Serbian old guard, consisting of Brooks and Stankovic, created a Berlin wall under the rim and Kunek woke up from the perimeter to extend distances again. Bernat Canut’s players began to suffer from the lack of rotations and it seemed that the match could not be recovered until the public appeared, like a sixth player, and pushed the home team until reducing the difference of points to three ( 32-35). After the break, new game. A 2+1 by Araújo tied the duel (35-35).
David Gaspar’s team took the initiative on the scoreboard, although the game gained defensive intensity and Spar Girona made up for the lack of outside success (2/9) with the dominance of the offensive rebound. All this allowed the Catalans to be very close to their rivals (44-45). Etxarri appeared to place the maximum difference in favor of the locals (55-50) and the junior base, Faustine Parra, set Fontajau on fire by stealing a ball that forced David Gaspar to call a timeout. With Spar Girona in front, the visitors looked to cut distances by forcing personal and they succeeded.
Tolo put Spar ahead again with a minute left in the encounter with two hearty free throws and Kunek, with cold blood, returned the equity in the scoreboard in the same way (60-60). The Australian, again from the personal line, put the locals ahead and Gardner stretched the score (63-60) and, poetic justice, a cap on Sykes (who on the day forced the exit of the club) made by Etxarri, he said.
Balsamic victory for the Gironans that are placed co-leaders of group B, next to Perfumerías, Famila Schio and Sopron. Those of Bernat Canut, who in the coming days should recover Cornelius and Drammeh from their respective injuries, have on the horizon two league games in Fontajau before the FIBA stop for European qualification. It will be necessary to see what happens with Bradford, but now it is also time to think about the next league game, this Friday against Estudiantes (8pm), in Fontajau, where the Uni flame never goes out.
