Atenas Basketball Team Fights Back to Tie Quarterfinal Series

There was no option. It was the game that could have thrown away all the good that had been done during the season. Athens played the most pressured game of the season, but they pulled through. Last night, they beat Salta Basket 86-74 as a visitor and tied the quarterfinal series of the Northern Conference of the Argentine Basketball League 2-2.

Thus, they earned the right to a fifth and final match, which will be played this Tuesday, starting at 9 p.m., at the Carlos Cerutti Sports Center. The winner of that duel will be a semi-finalist.

The game was very hard. But Atenas showed a lot of personality and never left the game. He adjusted the match as the minutes passed and knew how to begin to limit the confidence that the northern team carried throughout this series and imposed the individual quality of many of its players. To the usual scoring of captain Lucas Arn (26), was added a great game by José Montero. The man from Santiago contributed 20 points (with a tremendous 6/9 in triples), five assists and four rebounds.

Of course defense was the key. It was Salta Basket’s lowest scoring game in the entire tie. And another vital piece of information was the contribution of the green bench, with the points from Reyes and Stanic, plus the rebounds from Maidana. The Greek closed it very well in the final segment, who celebrated and took a great weight off his shoulders.

Of course, he still has to take one more step to be able to continue in the race. He will have to give it this Tuesday at Cerutti.

The match

The first quarter began with Atenas on the right footing. They scored a quick 8-2, but Salta Basket responded with a triple to reduce the score and prevent the Verde from gaining confidence. The locals appealed to what works best for them in this series, which is defending and taking advantage of the transition to score (it was 21-14). They paid for the mistakes that the Córdoba team made and, thus, the homeowner took the first boy 23-20. El Verde, with 3/3 in doubles, but a poor 2/8 in triples, reduced at the end of the segment.

The second segment was more even and with lower scoring. Atenas opted more for inside play and outside shooting as an option. And his performance improved. Salta continued to take advantage of some Green distractions to score. Thus, they went to long break 40-39 up.

Parity was maintained during the third quarter. But Atenas did not lose the axis and took the segment 24-21, to go ahead 63-61, with the appearances of Arn and Montero in their best version on offense. Salta Basket was saved by a couple of triples from Jara to prevent the Greek from escaping for more.

Things came together in the final segment. Until Lucas Arn “demanded” the ball from “Chirri” Reyes and the captain launched a three-point shot. He holed out, with 6m12 left, and put the Greek up 75-62. From there, the Green dominated everything until the end and took a necessary victory.

The Form

The previous

With all the weight of responsibility, as in the entire campaign and more, Athens will go out to play at the Delmi stadium in the capital of Salta. It is not just one more game, nor one more series, for Athens it is the entire season. It is the maximum bet, the one that began on October 15 of last year, when the winding path of the Argentine Basketball League began. And it started before, with the relegation of the National League, almost a year ago.

It is true that the squad and the coaching staff headed by Gustavo Peirone have nothing to do with Atenas having lost its place in the elite of Argentine basketball, if they assumed a big, heavy commitment, loaded with pressure, when they agreed to wear the green shirt in the second category.

One more year playing for promotion will be a hard blow for all of Athens, sportingly and economically.

The General Bustos neighborhood team loses 1-2 to Salta Basket in the quarterfinal series of the Northern Conference. Nothing is lost for the people of Córdoba, but they do have the noose around their necks after three very tough, physical games. Nothing makes it seem that this Saturday at Delmi will be different. Quite the opposite. It will surely have even more tension than the last match, on Thursday and only decided in overtime in favor of the Infernales by 92-90, after equaling at 83.

Athens played with the dedication, the heart and even the intelligence that are needed in these commitments, but it was not enough. After winning the first game of the series, at Cerutti by 94 to 91, they fell without mitigation in the second, also in Córdoba, by 92-82. It was the match that changed everything in a key that looked even before the initial jump.

There is a key aspect that the Verde must improve, no matter what, if they intend to equalize the series and force the fifth and decisive match, scheduled for Tuesday, May 7 at the Cerutti. It’s about defense. It was a theme throughout much of the regular series, and it was very noticeable in the three meetings with the Salteños in the playoffs. And he suffered like never before from the absence of Juan Cruz Oberto.

The Infernales were hell for Atenas and their brand, scoring an average of 91 points, even more than in overtime in the last one. If Peirone’s team does not manage to lower the score to 70-75 against the Salteños (it was clear that they did not reach 83 in the 40 minutes on Thursday either), it will be difficult for them to win in the capital of Salta.

Beyond the collective solidarity he showed, he will need some more scorers to help Lucas Arn (they double and triple mark him in the painted area) and José Montero on offense. Carlos Buemo, effective in the triples (4/7 in the last game) has to lend a hand, and mainly the American Chris Ware. In the first game of the series, the pivot was key in the scoring and Athens will need it like water on Saturday.

With the noose around their neck, the Green must appeal to the quality of their players, the self-love that they have already shown, and the intelligence, to overcome this complicated moment and continue dreaming of fighting for promotion, to return to “their” place, the National League.

This Saturday, at 9 p.m., the fourth point of the series will be played and if Salta Basket wins, it will advance to the semifinals. If not, there will be a fifth and final game in Córdoba on Tuesday, May 7.

2024-05-05 02:14:58
#beat #Salta #Basket #visitor #define #pass #semis #Córdoba