Baskonia triumphs by a very tight 84-83 over Partizan
MADRID, 3 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Baskonia won this Friday by a very tight 84-83 against Partizan on matchday 6 of the Euroleague, with an outstanding performance by the Nigerian power forward Chima Moneke and making good another redebut of the Montenegrin Dusko Ivanovic as Baskonia coach, at the dawn of his fourth stage as a bench fire extinguisher.
The Fernando Buesa Arena witnessed the beginning of another ‘Ivanovic era’ with an 8-3 start. A triple from Matt Costello and five points in a row from Tadas Sedekerskis had put it together, although Partizan responded soon to tie the contest (10-10) and threaten with the help of Frank Kaminsky, James Nunnally and especially Tristan Vukcevic.
Uros Trifunovic stopped Baskonia’s new run (17-16) with a triple and, a little later, did the same with a skillful basket (21-18). The tie in the first quarter (23-23) reflected that Ivanovic had a lot of work ahead of him to correct his team’s mistakes in defense.
Not in vain, the Belgrade team was 23-29 after a triple by Vukcevic; That alerted the local crowd, who at least saw how Chima Moneke entered the scene alongside Codi Miller-McIntyre to lead a 15-0 run (38-29). The Bulgarian-American guard, with ease, gave a lesson on managing the tempo in each play.
The visiting weapon to counteract it was Nunnally, whose skill prevented the gap from growing (46-42) before the break. However, upon returning from the locker room the score went from 48-42 to a dangerous 53-50 for the Vitoria club. The flow of ideas in attack had disappeared and Markus Howard was slow to get going, with Miller-McIntyre worse facing the basket.
Two consecutive baskets by Zach Leday, a triple by Danilo Andjusic and another productive action by Ognjen Jaramaz kept Partizan away (55-61) while no solution emerged among the local ranks. A triple by Nunnally extended the Balkan lead (58-66) and Baskonia survived with three free throws made by Vanja Marinkovic (61-66).
With 29 seconds left in the third chapter, Moneke tightened the score and gave his team hope. Vukcevic complicated Baskonista’s task as soon as the fourth quarter began and Alen Smailagic was reliable from the free throw line, so he played hard balls to Howard to avoid another defeat on the ‘Old Continent’.
In that context, the point guard born in New Jersey carried the team on his back and contributed with a key triple (70-74). After a television timeout, a long shot from Sedekerskis made the ‘tie’ in the hoop, but Howard did immediately hit it from beyond the arc (73-75).
That incident caused Zeljko Obradovic to call a timeout and Jaramaz took advantage of it with a drive to the basket. However, Marinkovic converted another big triple (76-77) and put the match in a fist. Doubts invaded Partizan, who found themselves behind after two free throws scored by Sedekerskis with cold blood.
TWO VERY IMPORTANT OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS
There were 2:02 left until the final horn and a series of ups and downs ensued. The score was 80-77, with a basket by Miller-McIntyre following a steal, was followed by a three-pointer by Jaramaz to tie it with 1:15 remaining in the game. And then Moneke dressed as a hero, putting in an offensive rebound (82-80).
Then Howard missed a triple and on the counterattack Nunnally scored a 2+1 (82-83) that filled the Vitorian pavilion with nerves, as there were 13.2 left to play. Miller-McIntyre did not do well, as he had committed that ill-timed foul and then missed a vital three-pointer; instead, Moneke emerged to save the local parish.
The Nigerian power forward grabbed another offensive rebound and was fouled; With only 1.1 left to play, he converted two free throws (84-83) that tasted like glory when Trifunovic went wide on the subsequent possession in a pass to his teammate Kaminsky. Partizan died there, and Baskonia took a breather in the standings (balance of 2-4).
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: BASKONIA, 84 – PARTIZÁN, 83 (48-42, at halftime).
–EQUIPMENT.
BASCONY: Howard (14), Miller-McIntyre (9), Raieste (5), Sedekerskis (14) and Costello (3) — starting quintet–; Kotsar (11), Marinkovic (12), Moneke (16) and Chris (-).
PARTISAN: Andjusic (9), Jaramaz (11), Nunnally (16), Kaminsky (8) y Leday (11) –quinteto initial–; Smailagic (7), Dozier Jr. (-), Avramovic (1), Trifunovic (7) and Vukcevic (13).
–PARTIALS: 23-23, 25-19, 15-24 and 21-17.
–REFEREES: Lottermoser, Nedovic and Laurinavicius. No eliminated.
–PAVILLION: Fernando Buesa Arena.
2023-11-03 21:46:13
#Moneke #sweetens #redebut #Ivanovic #Vitoria
