In a match that left a lot to be desired in terms of technique and finishing, but was always played with good speed and desire, FC Porto beat Ovarense 74-62 (15-23, 28-11, 14-17, 17-11) in a delayed match of the 8th round of the Betclic League. A result that sees the blue and whites jump to 3rd place (17 pts), behind undefeated leaders Benfica (18), with one game less, and Sporting (18).
With the possibility of having risen to third place, Ovar’s team is now 4th, with the same points as the Porto team.
A clash in which Fernando Sá’s men ended up being 10 points down (15-25) at the start of the 2nd quarter, but, after equaling 34-34, still in the period, they reached the break already leading 43-34.
The 2nd quarter was particularly impressive for three moments in basketball that was not always efficient, but where the home team took advantage of their dominance in the fight on the boards: 47-39 in rebounds; and the fouls on Javien Davis to go to the free throw line were not and resulted (12). It should be noted that Porto finished with 40 points obtained in the painted area, compared to 22 from João Silva’s team.
Outnumbered by 10, the visitors built a surprising 15-0 (30-25) run, during which the opponent was dry for around 6(!) minutes.
Even so, Ovarense managed to respond with two draws (32-32, 34-34), the only ones on the entire night.
However, they then complicated everything again by suffering another run of 11-0 (43-34) in which Cornelius Hudson (22 pts, 11 res, 5 ass) scored 9 points.
In the 2nd half, despite the outsiders reducing the difference to three (54-51) at the end of the 3rd quarter and to five (57-52) at the start of the final period, Tanner Omlid (13 pts, 9 res), Hudson and Javien Davis (14 pts, 6 res) almost always secured the advantage at around the tens.
It was the fourth consecutive victory for the dragons and sixth in seven matches, having, in between, suffered the only defeat against Luz (109-80).
In Ovar’s group, with four victories in the last six matches and which had only been surpassed by Sporting (78-65) and Benfica (70-96), special emphasis goes to Jay Heath (16 pts, 6 res), Ivan Pavicevic (12 pts, 6 res) and the action of base Miguel Monteiro (8 pts, 4 ass), as well as Render Woods (8 pts, 4 res, 5 ass).
