By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Thanks to huge plays by Martin Hermannsson and Landry Nnoko, ALBA Berlin got the overtime road win (94-85) after beating Olympiacos in Greece three days ago.
Hermannsson scored in total 13 points, including two critical three-pointers in overtime with the first making the score 84-79 and the second pushing ALBA’s lead to eight points (91-83).
Still, according to him it was all about defense: “I think the defence was the key, not the scoring. I’m always happy to score but I’m really happy about my team’s defence. These games are really important. We’ve been winning at home so it’s good to see we’re able to beat really good teams on the road as well.”
As for Nnoko, he practically sent the game to overtime with a tip-in and had in total 12 points and five rebounds.
Luke Sikma had a double-double with 15 points and ten rebounds, while Peyton Siva also added 15 points.
After this result, Zvezda dropped to the ninth spot with a 9-11 record, while ALBA got its seventh win in 20 regular-season games.
The game was close from wire to wire, with Zvezda getting a 43-39 halftime advantage.
The hosts extended the lead to seven points (57-50) momentarily, but thanks to a 9-0 run, ALBA managed to be up by two (59-57). However, At the end of the third quarter, the score was tied at 62 with Kevin Punter and Siva exchanging threes in the closing seconds.
The dogfight continued in the final period with ALBA getting a 79-77 lead with 51 seconds left, thanks to big put-back shot by Nnoko after two missed free throws by Sikma.
Punter was fouled by Siva and made his free throws (79-79), but the result was overtime. Kevin Punter scored 24 points in total, however only two of them in overtime. Lorenzo Brown and Vladimir Stimac, with 12 points each, were the only other scorers of Zvezda in double-digits.
“We weren’t able to play at our normal speed”
Aito Garcia Reneses explained that the improvement of his team in the second half was the key, even if Zvezda managed to slow things down: “We defended better [in the second half], a little better. And we shot with a very good percentage, not like in the first half. It was difficult because we started badly in the first quarter and without energy. Probably because they wanted to play slowly and we weren’t able to play at our normal speed.”
Photo credit: EuroLeague