By Eurohoops / info@eurohoops.net
There may still be a need to bring in a center, but Baskonia already has its winter signing.
Paolo Galbiati has seen one of the team’s pillars return to the spotlight, as Markus Howard is once again looking like the player he was not so long ago.
The American guard led the Basque side to victory against Unicaja Málaga (90–93), scoring 30 points, the last three coming at the buzzer to clinch the win for his team. Thimothe Luwawu-Cabarrot once again proved to be his trusted sidekick, contributing 20 points.
For Ibon Navarro’s Unicaja, Chris Duarte was the standout performer with 23 points.
Just a few hours after the battle at the Palau Blaugrana, Baskonia had to face another extremely demanding challenge.
For much of the first half and throughout the entire third quarter, both the pace of the game and the scoreboard clearly favored Unicaja Málaga.
But everything changed in the final period because of Markus Howard.
The American put the team on his back and was the main driving force behind a 14–28 run in the last ten minutes. That impressive stretch secured Baskonia the win at the Martín Carpena and keeps them firmly in the fight for a Copa del Rey spot for at least one more round.