Unahotels fights, but comes out defeated

BAXI Manresa 96 UNAHOTELS 90

BAXI: Bishops 3, Jou 1, Reyes 15, Massa 12, Steibergs, Saint-Supery 9, Alston 29, Hunt 2, Obasohan 17, Perez, Cate 8. Ne: Sagnia. All.: Kastritis.

UNAHOTELS: Barford 17, Winston 6, Faye 9, Gombauld 5, Smith 5, Uglietti 5, Vitali 19, Faried 8, Grant, Cheatham 16. Ne: Gallo and Chillo All.: Priftis.

Referees: Gatis Salins (Let), Georgios Poursanidis (Gre), Gintaras Maciulis (Lit)

Partial: 23-23, 49-45, 75-71

Footnotes: 3-pointers: Baxi 10/27, Unahotels 14/29; free throws: Manresa 22/30, Reggio Emilia 20/28. Rebounds: Manresa 43, Reggio Emilia 32. Out with 5 fouls: Winston, Faried and Alston

At the end of an interminable, very nervous match, full of contact and very physical, theUnahotels comes out defeated but carries out plan B, managing to save the difference in baskets and becoming master of its destiny in terms of qualification for the quarterfinals. In fact, the red and whites, in order to obtain the pass for the next phase of Fiba Champions League it will be enough to overcome the Turks of Petkimspor next Tuesday at the PalaBigi. Without putting the cart before the horse, the news says that Priftis's team, in Manresa, played a spirited match, always staying on top of things, remaining solid even in the most difficult moments and finding the right flashes, at different moments of the match, as equally protagonists. An excellent Barford at the beginning, a convincing Vitali in the second quarter, the sniper Cheatham in the third and, finally, transforming into a working team in the decisive final fraction with the icing on the cake of the final plays of a Momo Faye until that moment in the shadow. The first three quarters unfolded in the name of balance and various mutual breaks. At the start Unahotels clearly suffered, unusual for them, on the rebound. The Catalans captured 12 offensive ones, also obtaining second or third opportunities to finalize the action. The percentages are low, however, and Reggio stays afloat with an unstoppable Barford. Although In the second quarter, driven by a sumptuous Alston (three consecutive "triples"), Baxi tries to take off, even reaching +9. But despite an evanescent Winston, when a very precise Vitali takes the stage, the Emilians get back in touch, containing the margin at half-time. The third quarter sees one man in command: Kwan Cheatham. The Reggio winger scores a peremptory 4/4 from long range, annihilating the Iberian defense and allowing his team to also take the lead on a couple of occasions. At the stroke of the last 10', however, Ocampo's men are still in the lead. Manresa tries everything to overturn the -15 of the first leg, but Reggio doesn't give up an inch, fights, finds the right baskets, ends up down even eleven points but always finds the energy to get back on track. And in the end he leaves the Baxi parquet with his head held high and with the minimum objective achieved.