Joventut has the answers in 74-80 win over Reyer

Joventut Badalona locked up a top-two finish in Group A as it fought past Umana Reyer Venice 74-80 on the road on Wednesday. Joventut had an answer for each push by Reyer for its fourth straight win and sixth in the last seven games for a 12-5 record. Henry Ellenson led the way with 18 points, Ante Tomic scored 16, Andres Feliz had 13 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists and Simon Birgander chipped in 8 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Reyer lost its first game under new head coach Neven Spahija, snapping a two-game winning streak in falling to 9-8. Mitchell Watt tallied 20 points and 8 rebounds for Reyer, which suffered a setback in its hopes of hosting a home game in the eighthfinals.
Joventut needed more than 2 minutes to score but Reyer was only able to move ahead 3-0. Kyle Guy scored 4 points in a 0-6 spurt to put the visitors up 6-11. Joventut evened it at 13-13 and it was tied 20-20 after 10 minutes.
The game was close until Joel Parra hit a triple in a 0-8 surge for a 28-37 gap. Reyer held Joventut to just 1 point in the final 2 minutes and trailed 34-38 at intermission.
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A block and three-pointer by Ellenson pushed the margin back to 9 points. Tomic added three baskets and the lead was 44-53. Reyer answered with the next 7 points to pull within 51-53. Birgander punched back with 6 points and the hosts led 55-59 after 30 minutes.
Reyer tried to pull even but Joventut continued to come up with big plays - with Ellenson hitting two triples to make it 63-72. Feliz added two tough layups for a 69-76 gap with 3 minutes left. The Joventut defense held strong the rest of the way.