The Spanish side secured its first-ever victory in the competition
Manresa planted seeds in first half, harvested in second to beat Slask
Artículo
3 Min lectura
Regular Season
Round 2 of 18
Regular Season
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BAXI ManresaMAN
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Slask WroclawWKS
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Overview
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BAXI Manresa was able to celebrate its first-ever BKT EuroCup win at home when it defeated Slask Wroclaw 74-62 at Pavello Nou Congost on Wednesday night.
The hosts struggled to take control of the game in the early going and trailed 20-21 after 14 minutes, but a strong 11-0 run at that moment allowed Manresa to stay calm, reach the break in charge at 36-28, and kill Slask in the second half.
A 7-0 run to start the third period and an 11-3 to begin the last quarter boosted the home team's lead to 64-47 with 5 minutes left, a fair reward for its effort all game long.
“I think we did a pretty good job in the first half in terms of executing what we wanted. Shots didn't fall for us, even though we played okay,” reflected Manresa center Grant Golden right after the final buzzer.
“Defensively, a couple mistakes here and there, but definitely came out strong in the second half. That sort of helped lifted us for the rest of the second half, and we were able to hold on to the lead and keep it throughout.”
Despite shooting with low percentages from behind the arc (17.9% 3FG), Manresa kept working hard in all those other aspects that matter, wearing down its opponent slowly. Especially on defense, as Slask was able to score only 10 points when combining the first 5 minutes of the last two periods.
Come the end of the game, Slask had committed 19 turnovers and dished just 8 assists. On the other side, Manresa stole 8 balls and got 21 assists, which allowed the home team to control the rhythm and neutralize any Slask comeback attempt in the crucial moments.
“We played better defense, we were solid in one-on-one situations, and we controlled the rebounds, so we could run,” acknowledged Manresa head coach Diego Ocampo.
“In life, there is one thing you cannot buy, and that’s experience,” Slask head coach lamented in the post-game press conference. “You can cover experience with physicality, with aggressiveness, with hard playing. We were in the game all the time, I would say, but experience, our decisions, offensively, against their defense, we weren’t able to organize our offense well, and Manresa leaped on our decisions offensively.
“We gave a lot of presents to Manresa; there is no other explanation for me. We had 19 turnovers.”