Baskonia does not let the Armani Milano crisis pass
MADRID, 1 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Cazoo Baskonia remained in ‘playoff’ positions in the Regular Phase of the Euroleague 2022-2023 after not letting go of the crisis at EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, which they won this Thursday with authority (78-62) at the Fernando Buesa Sand.
The team from Vitoria added their sixth victory of the continental campaign and once again showed their strength in front of their fans against an opponent who is still in free fall and who chained their seventh consecutive defeat that leaves them bottom of the table.
Joan Peñarroya’s men dominated from start to finish and managed to control the feints of reaction from Ettore Messina’s men, thanks mainly to his success in the triple when he needed it to control an opponent supported only by the effort of Brandon Davies (23 points and 12 rebounds for a PIR of 33) and Devon Hall.
Armani Milano made it clear from the initial jump that its current bad moment is not the result of chance. He took four minutes to make his first basket and although Baskonia had a hard time starting, he found Hommes’ wrist to take the initiative. His three triples propelled the locals to take ten rental points (17-7).
Ettore Messina’s team, despite stopping the game with two timeouts, failed to react and their nine points at the end of the first ten minutes reflected their lack of capacity. The locals did not let it pass and with another triple, by Costello, they shot up the score (24-9).
However, the Baskonista team slowed down and had a hard time finding the rival ring in the second quarter. The Italian team managed to fine-tune from the three-pointer and with two consecutive ones they got back into a clash where their rival was now the one who had difficulties to score.
In fact, his first two points of the period came from the free throw line after three minutes and it took him two more to make his first basket on the line. From there he woke up thanks to Thompson and Howard, and a three pointer from Dani Díez left him with a ‘comfortable’ lead at halftime (38-27).
After passing through the changing rooms, the Lombard team threatened to make the match long. Consecutive triples from Hall and Davies put him within range of the Baskonistas (40-35), but they responded in the same way and the hits from Howard (2) and Thompson again gave him very clear dominance (53- 37).
The clash seemed totally controlled by the locals, when Armani made its last attempt to react, again led by Davies too alone. A 0-8 run from the visitors tightened things up for the final ten minutes (54-45), although it was a mirage.
And it is that Baskonia came out again more successful and more intense to escape once again over ten points. A triple by Hall (62-51) was the last breath of the Italian team, which was sentenced by Peñarroya’s team again from the triple with Thompson and Henry to definitively stretch the match (68-51) and ensure victory .
–RESULT: CAZOO BASKONIA, 78 – ARMANI MILANO, 62 (38-27, at halftime).
CAZOO BASKONIA: Howard (9), Thompson (15), Giedraitis (6), Hommes (11) and Kotsar (7) –starting five–; Costello (5), Henry (9), Enoch (4), Marinkovic (6), Kurucs (3) and Díez (3).
EA7 EMPORIO ARMANI MILAN: Mitrou-Long (-), Hall (14), Luwawu-Cabarrot (2), Melli (7) and Davies (23) –starting quintet– Baron (2), Hines (2), Ricci (-), Baldasso (6), Voigtmann (4), Alviti (2), Tonut.
— PARTIALS: 24-9, 14-18, 16-18 and 24-17.
–REFEREES: Latisevs, Difallah and Hordov. No deleted.
–PAVILLION: Fernando Buesa Sand.
