By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
It wasn’t easy but in the end, Crvena Zvezda got one more win and that’s the important part at this point of the season.
The Serbs beat ALBA in Germany (77-71) having a solid 16-10 record and flirting with the fourth spot in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings.
Filip Petrusev, with 17 points, was the top scorer of the winners and Isaiah Canaan added 11.
ALBA fought valiantly despite being last in the standings, taking 18 points by David McCormack.
Mateo Spagnolo scored 15, and Matt Thomas also had 15, closing the gap to 75-71 with 43 seconds left, but ALBA didn’t score after that.
“I think defensively we were solid, most of the game. We played against a rhythm team, and if you allow them to find the rhythm, they can score many points on offense. We used some tricks and this way we disorganized their organization on offense,” Sfairopoulos commented.
Zvezda played with fire
Playing at home, ALBA proved to be competitive, but Zvezda had a small lead for most of the time, closing the first quarter up by two (15-13) and the halftime up by five (35-40), while momentarily also had a six-point advantage (34-28).
ALBA tied the score at 52 in the third period. However, Zvezda reacted with a 7-0 run (59-52), and ALBA trimmed the lead to four (59-55) after a three by Matteo Spagnelo to close the period.
And finally, in the fourth quarter, ALBA, thanks to a quick 7-2 run got the lead back (62-61), forcing Zvezda coach Giannis Sfairopoulos to take a timeout.
The answer came with a three by Yago Dos Santos and two buckets by Petrusev, giving the Serbs a crucial seven-point cushion (71-64) with five minutes left, which proved to be enough.
“We had problems in the rebound, and we gave them a lot of second opportunities. Let’s try on the next one” Israel Gonzalez commented after the loss.
Photo credit: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague