In his fight to get out from the bottom of the table, Athens (4-29) made it clear that he is going to throw his heart out on the pitch to succeed. He knows that in this race he cannot fail, especially at home, and this Thursday night his dedication and wear and tear were rewarded against a very tough rival like Union (7-26): suffered 74-70 to get the second win in a row at home in the National League.
With Javion Blake out (he left the team on Thursday morning to fulfill a pre-established contract in New Zealand) and without Omar Cantón almost halfway through the game, the Cordoba team brought out all their strength and beat a direct rival. Federico Mariani was once again the scorer with 18 points.
game analysis
Despite the blow in the run-up to the game, given that they will no longer have Blake, Athens put their all into playing a more than key game. It is that Unión is one of the three teams in the bottom and beating it was going to be important for the group. For this reason, averaging the first quarter, they won 10 to 2 and dominated the actions. But after a minute requested by the visiting coach, plus the entry of Emiliano Toretta and Mateo Bolívar, the people from Santa Fe had more fluidity and managed to close closer. The first ten finished 19 to 14.
For the second leg, control of the game continued to be from the premises. Both teams bet on the rotation and alternative alignments. There the Greek also worked better with distributed goalscoring, except for Alejandro Konsztadt, all those who entered had already converted. The Tatengue was maintained thanks to the contribution of Jeantal Cylla (11) and Elston Turner Jr. (10). When the danger appeared, Union tied at 32 with two minutes remaining, Athens quickly deactivated the advance and finished 36-32 up.
So far the game was not the most attractive, none of them have anything left over and at the slightest mistake by one or the other the situation could change. The difference in the scoreboard always remained in one digit in favor of Athens. An intentional foul and a coach charged to Cantón allowed Unión to take the lead for the first time in the game (45-46) with 2.25 remaining and on top of that Athens was left without its captain due to expulsion. Despite the dark outlook, the Greek held on and closed the third 50 to 49 in his favor.
Already in the last period the game entered its most even stretch, both lent each other the marker and the definition would clearly be left to the one who made the fewest mistakes.
So it was that with 1.24 minutes to go, the game favored Athens by one (67-66) and Unión with the ball. Elston Turner Jr. missed from three and then Federico Mariani from the line extended the lead to three. The visit had another chance, but Deion McClenton blocked Jeantal Cylla and the ball returned to the local. Fabian Jaimes converted a simple two to make it 70 to 66. The Santa Fe team attacked quickly and got within two with 13 seconds left. After the minute Mariani received a new foul and increased it to 72 to 68. Toretta reduced it to two and in the serve another foul on the 8th of Athens allowed him to close a more than needed victory.
