LEB Oro: Palencia Basketball yields leadership to Andorra

It could not be. This time the Zunder Palencia could not make it even more difficult to conquer the fort of the Principality. With a full house, the Pavelló de Govern gave a welcome to the height of the new champion of the Princess Cup.

In this case, MoraBanc Andorra did not disappoint its parish in a bid that had several awards and special significance for the host team. In the first place, the possibility of breaking the tie with the identical trajectories with which the two applicants appeared at the event in a successful record of 19 wins and only two setbacks. On the other hand, settle the leadership position within the leaderboard. And, last but not least, the possibility of obtaining revenge after what was experienced in the Palencia Pavilion on February 11, on a date that will remain to be remembered in the entity on the banks of the Carrión river.

The train wreck started as planned, with ten players willing not to give a single millimeter to their adversary. A tension that seized Nacho Llovet, one of the most expert protagonists, to allow a 0-11 partial that forced Natxo Lezkano to stop the timer before the avalanche from Palencia.

With the clearest ideas, the local five returned to the floor in a defense that dried up Devin Schmidt’s source of points. The more than five minutes without scoring by a Zunder Palencia that was subdued by an opponent who signed the tables with two free kicks by Rafa Luz (14-14, min. 7) was no coincidence. Undoubtedly, a good preview of the best pound-for-pound fight that can be enjoyed today within the LEB Oro. A second quarter followed the same path in which neither team was able to distance themselves on the scoreboard and in which the more talented were in charge of winning the battle against the defenses. Dee, Maric and Rafa Luz drew an offensive trident that annulled the choral cast of Pedro Rivero’s boys.

The imbalance of a Mathieu Kamba far from his best version was missed, together with the problems when it came to closing the rebound by the Palencian interiors. Some deficits that, in any case, were not an impediment to go to rest with a slight advantage forged in a last quarter 3-11 before going through the locker room.

much equality

Nor did the resumption imply any alteration in a fight destined to be defined in the last quarter as a symptom of equality between two teams called to greater goals. Pedro Rivero designed a more dynamic proposal, with aggressive and intense players in response to the greater size of a MoraBanc Andorra team that entrusted itself to its endless battery of interior players. That is why the good moment experienced by Wintering and the resurrection of Kamba within a scheme that enhanced his virtues did not surprise anyone. His offensive leadership allowed his teammates to compete one on one against an opponent carried by 5,000 throats.

A battle with more than just a game at stake condensed into ten heart-stopping minutes. Wasting no time or energy, both sides launched into an exchange of blows at the two baskets with more noise than nuts.

The intensity in defense and the anxiety in attack took their toll on very uncomfortable shots. Zunder Palencia needed almost half of the quarter to turn the score around with a basket from Kamba under the backboard between a tangle of arms (70-72, min. 35). A prelude to the turbulence that was yet to come. Perhaps the last moment before Natxo Lezcano’s boys found one more gear in their gearbox to find a booty in the form of a 9-0 partial that forced the purple side to go in tow in a tightrope walk exercise without a safety net .

Not even the stellar appearance of the Congolese foreigner (19 points in the second half) could prevent a defeat that Andric certified from the line of three with a shot that sounded like shattered porcelain