Valencia Basket always leaves Kosner Baskonia in tow

Valencia Basket beat Kosner Baskonia 91-81 this Tuesday during matchday 18 of the regular phase of the Euroleague, where the tremendous success of the Valencian team in its shots from the perimeter, especially before halftime, has always left a Basque team in tow that continues without winning away from its pavilion.

At the Roig Arena, the locals made their intention clear with triples in their first three baskets. Baskonia’s response was the responsibility of Markus Howard, who has been in a state of grace for two weeks, but who was soon burdened with personal fouls and that reduced the rotation of ‘small’ men for Paolo Galbiati, without counting on Markquis Nowell either.

Every time the visitors pushed the score, guided especially by Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, the ‘taronja’ team hit with their long shots until closing the first period with 27-19 in their favor. The great architect of that advantage had been Matt Costello, who in the following period was helped by the regulars Kameron Taylor and Brancou Badio.

However, upon reaching the round figure of 50 points, Pedro Martínez’s pupils were stuck and their opponent reduced the gap thanks to Luwawu-Cabarrot, Eugene Omoruyi and Mamadi Diakite who sent everything to halftime with 58-47. But upon returning from the locker room, Valencia increased their lead with good aim from Jean Montero as well.

Of course, the atmosphere was strange and Baskonia came back to life thanks to Howard after being down 74-52. The New Jersey guard scored a triple and assisted two others, first from Rodions Kurucs and then from Omoruyi, to keep his team in the ‘ointment’. And like déjà vu, Howard made two fouls in a row with 2:10 left in the third period.

At the beginning of the fourth period, the 76-65 score still gave hope of a comeback for the Vitorians, who in the midst of the noise were 80-74 and there was a long time left to go. Costello ended that bad ‘taronja’ dynamic with a trademark triple and Omari Moore and Kam Taylor resumed their scoring paths, keys along with Jaime Pradilla’s struggle in defense.

Two free throws from Taylor made it +10 again for Valencia and the clock was running out for the Alava team. A desperate shot by Luwawu-Cabarrot and a poor offensive action by Kurucs consummated another defeat away from home for Baskonia, who have been dry of European joys at home since December 17, 2024.

On the other hand, the victory in front of their home crowd helped Valencia move to a record of 12-6, the same as FC Barcelona and Panathinaikos at the top of the table, all chasing the surprising leader Hapoel Tel Aviv, which has a record of 13-5.

TECHNICAL SHEET.

–RESULT: VALENCIA BASKET, 91 – KOSNER BASKONIA, 81 (58-47, at halftime).

–TEAMS.

VALENCIA BASKET: Montero (16), Badio (12), Puerto (4), Costello (18) and Sako (2) –starting quintet–; De Larrea (-), Thompson (-), Taylor (16), Moore (11), Key (-), Pradilla (6) and Reuvers (6).

KOSNER BASKONIA: Simmons (8), Howard (9), Radzevicius (2), Frisch (6) and Diop (-) –initial quintet–; Spagnolo (2), Diakite (8), Kurucs (6), Luwawu-Cabarrot (13), Forrest (10), Omoruyi (17) and Villar (-).

–PARTIALS: 27-19, 31-28, 18-18 and 15-16.

–REFEREES: Radovic, Shemmesh and Boubert. No eliminated.

–PAVILLION: Roig Arena, 12,320 spectators.