If, until now, nine of Benfica’s 11 opponents had not broken the four-time champions’ unbeaten record in the Betclic League, neither was Vasco da Gama, second to last placed, committing such a feat. Rather the opposite.
With a crushing victory by 67-118 (20-26,10-37, 13-22, 24-25) in the 11th round match, Norberto Alves’ team remained unbeatable and regained the lead that, for a few hours, had been in the hands of Sporting (also with 20 pts) after the latter, the day before, had beaten Imortal by 83-64. A situation that would always occur at the end of the first round, as, in addition to Benfica having the 8th round game against Galitos do Barreiro (Wednesday) delayed, they have an advantage in the confrontation with the lions having won in Alvalade (66-103) in the 2nd round.
As for the match at the Matosinhos Sports Center, perhaps excited to face the leader and he only had nine players able to play, Jhonathan Andrade never left the bench, Vasco da Gama bet, from the beginning, on a good rhythm and, taking advantage of spaces in attack, closed the opening quarter with a disadvantage of six (20-26). With Rúben Nobre (4 res), who scored 18 of his 25 points until the break, in the spotlight, the northerners didn’t change anything in the 2nd quarter and reached 26-35 with 7.18m to spend in the 1st half.
What followed was disaster. As usual, those from the capital increased defensive pressure, removed passing lines and provoked turnovers — Vasco committed 12 of 22 in the 1st half —, surprised in transition to build a partial of 0-20 (36-55) in 6m. A moment in which Diogo Gameiro (20 pts, 5 res, 4 ass) contributed with seven points and was only stopped by two free throws from Nobre. This was followed by a new run of 2-8 (30-63) heading into the locker room. There were 20m to go and everything was already resolved.
Especially because on their return, Luz did not lower their intensity and with Ben Romdhane (16 pts, 10 res) and Dziewa (16pts, 8 res) they completely dominated the fight on the tables: 28-50. They recorded 62 points in the area and 27 on the counterattack. One less than the hosts, inside the bottle. On the day, it should also be noted that Galitos achieved its second victory by beating Queluz 91-81 (18-27, 23-15, 26-17, 24-22), but remains in last place.
