Valencia Basket finally won a comfortable game this season as the four-time 7DAYS EuroCup champions eased past Umana Reyer Venice 67-81 on the road. Valencia jumped ahead 4-20 and never let Reyer closer than 9 points the rest of the way in winning its third straight game for a 4-2 record in Group B.
Valencia wins game comfortably in Venice, 67-81
The Spanish powerhouse had won its three games this season by 10 points, 1 point and 3 points. Klemen Prepelic led the way with 17 points with Mike Tobey posting 16 points and 8 rebounds in his first game this season. In addition, Louis Labeyrie tallied 12 points, Bojan Dubljevic scored 11 points and Martin Hermannsson dished out 6 assists with 5 points. The hosts, who dropped to 2-4, were paced by Martynas Echodas with 16 points and Jeff Brooks connected for 11 points.
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After not playing all season, Tobey tried to make up for all his lost time with the first 7 points of the game. Xabi Lopez-Arostegui added the next 5 and Valencia was up 0-12. Reyer missed its first 8 shots until Michael Bramos finally scored after more than 3 minutes. Tobey added a second three-pointer and Hermannsson also hit from deep to help Valencia extend its lead to 4-20. Reyer cut the gap to 10 points after three-pointers from Julyan Stone and Bramos and a three-point play from Echodas and triple from Brooks made it 16-25. The guests led 16-27 after 10 minutes.
Labeyrie scored first in the second quarter for Valencia with Victor Sanders hitting twice at the other end. Prepelic drained a triple and the lead was back to 16. Reyer did a good job defensively the rest of the first half, holding the visitors to just 2 free throws over the final 5:21 minutes and using an 8-2 spurt to pull within 32-42 at the break. Reyer was off-target on 6 free throws in that span to miss a chance to get closer.
Tobey started the second half strong with a dunk, two put-back scores and a fast-break layup as Valencia remained comfortably ahead, 36-50. After a Prepelic three-pointer, Dubljevic took over in the post to make it 38-55 for the biggest lead. Echodas converted a three-point play to get the deficit down to 45-57. Dubljevic responded with 4 points and the visitors led 47-62 after 30 minutes.
Tarik Phillip started the final frame with a three-point play, but Bramos was called for an unsportsmanlike foul which resulted in Lopez-Arostegui free throws and a Prepelic triple for a 50-67 cushion. Prepelic added another three-pointer and the gap was 20. Reyer managed the next 4 points only to see Labeyrie collect an and-one and the advantage grew to 54-75. Reyer managed to make the final result a little more acceptable with a 10-2 run to make it 64-77 inside the final 2 minutes.