Updated
BasketballVevey has prepared its “Final Four” perfectly
One week before their SBL Cup semi-final against Neuchâtel, the Veveysans won the Vaudois derby against Nyon (82-74).
With 14 points and 11 assists, Malik Johnson (ball in hand) was one of the great architects of the Veveysans’ victory in the derby against Nyon.
Richard Sendra
The classification is there to remind us that Vaud supremacy was not at stake on Saturday. But for the return of the derby to the Galeries du Rivage, the Vevey Riviera Basket (2nd tied with the Friborg champion) recalled that they were indeed the best team in the canton by overtaking the BBC Nyon (10th) in the second half ( 82-74).
With a perfectly prepared defensive game plan, it was the visitors who made the best start (4-16), punishing the absent defensive withdrawal of the VRB and forcing coach Niksa Bavcevic to push a first mouthful of which he has the secret. But as often this season, it was the twirling Malik Johnson who woke up his training and at the same time, the noisy Vevey public.
Captain Jonathan Dubas did the rest in the racket and at halftime, the locals were even in the lead on the scoreboard (34-33). Discreet so far, Tyrell Johnson set the alarm clock on returning from the locker room and martyred a Nyon racket too dependent on Devante Brooks alone. With a ten-point lead at the start of the last quarter, Vevey saw Nyon come back to 71-65. But Dubas, again and again, was there to close the game at free throws.
Le show des Mladjan
In the shock of the top names, Spinelli Massagno confirmed that he was indeed the undisputed leader of the championship by winning 81-69 at Saint-Léonard, on the Friborg floor. Still deprived of their shooter Matt Milon, Olympic was sorely lacking in skill (22% behind the arc and 45% on free throws at 11/24…).
The Ticino made the difference in a third quarter won 22-9 and during which Marko Mladjan was incandescent. In all, with his big brother Dusan, they scored 40 units, which is half of their team’s points. Arrived at the beginning of the week, the fourth Ticino foreign player Shannon Bogues was very valuable during the decisive “run”.
In the last part of Saturday, BC Boncourt disposed of the red lantern Swiss Central in the Cauldron (80-65). On Sunday, the Geneva Lions and the BBC Monthey receive respectively Starwings and Union Neuchâtel.
