There was everything in the match that Alimerka Oviedo Baloncesto won against Alega Cantabria. Impossible baskets, like the one Mikel Sanz scored from the center of the field so that the OCB went to half-time with a one-point advantage (41-40), exhibitions like that of the visitor Bulic (28 points) or that of the spectacular Horton (23 points), moments of inspiration such as the one that led former Oviedo player Agustí Sans to score three three-pointers in a row and get his team back into the game to experience a heart-stopping ending or baskets as decisive as the three-point shot he achieved Chapela with 1.23 left, with the score tied at 79, and which gave a key advantage (82-79) to the Oviedo team when everything was up in the air. This victory allows OCB to finish the first round in ninth position, in promotion play-off positions, and with an advantage of three victories over relegation.
It was a game played on a knife’s edge, with success, with mistakes, with effort and with attitude. On both sides. A duel that its protagonists elevated until it became a roller coaster of emotions. All of this accompanied by a crowd that once again filled the Pumarín sports center, with a notable presence of Cantabrian fans who did not stop cheering on their team for even a moment. But the Pumarín crowd also knew how to play their game and accompany the team in its worst moment, when Alega Cantabria took an eight-point lead (45-53) with 3.47 left in the third quarter. There Horton appeared – he has an enormous talent for playing this sport – with a triple and Stuckman to score another five points and return the score to a draw (53-53), driving a crowd that had turned the sports center into a cauldron crazy.
Horton continued with his particular recital and a spectacular basket of his entering the hoop and leaving the ball when time was running out gave OCB three points (58-55) for the last quarter. The exit of the last quarter, with that inertia that the Oviedo team had gotten into, seemed like it could be definitive for the locals. Josep Pérez, in his best game after being injured (the pass behind his back that he gave to Martí was spectacular), and Martí himself, who was once again at an enormous level, raised the lead to nine points (66-57) at 8.03 to end. Too much time for a team, the Cantabrian team, willing to give up every last drop of sweat.
And there Sans appeared to score three triples in just over two minutes and tighten the score (70-68) when there were still 5.43 eternal minutes left. The OCB was smart to look for the opponent’s weaknesses, being superior in the interior game, with Hall having one of his best games in recent months, winning the rebound battle. And he knew how to always stay ahead, but Littleson, nullified until that moment, took the baton from Bulic and Sans so that the OCB would never lose on the scoreboard.
In fact, Rafa Lisboa tied the game at 79 with 1:44 left. But the Oviedo team had the serenity to continue looking for its strengths and found only Chapela, who scored a saving triple, and then Horton to continue doing his thing and Cosialls to grab a rebound that avoided more problems and established the final goal. 86-81 that brings him closer to remaining in the LEB Oro del Oviedo and allows him to continue dreaming of other glories.
2024-01-14 21:31:17
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