Joventut Badalona cruised to a 97-79 home victory against Slask Wroclaw to finish the regular season with a competition-best 12-4 record thanks to the stellar play of its big men.
Joventut's frontcourt made the difference
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2 Mins read
It was a close game for 14 minutes as Slask managed to hang around as was trailing 31-29. Joventut needed answers and found them through its frontcourt. Vladimir Brodziansky made his trademark jump hook, Ante Tomic scored in the low post and Derek Willis did a little bit of everything, banking in a close shot and adding a put-back layup and a jumper.
That trio helped Joventut build a double-digit margin, 48-35, at halftime. All of Joventut's frontcourt players had important moments in the game - Tomic scored a lot early, Willis extended his team's gap before halftime, then Simon Birgander and Brodziansky dominated in the second half.
Their importance was shown in the stats at the end of the game. Birgander, Brodziansky, Willis and Tomic combined for 49 points - and all of them scored in double digits. Together they shot 18 for 22 on two-point shots, a fantastic 81.8% inside the arc. They found a perfect complement in Albert Ventura, who had an on-fire moment early in the fourth quarter to finish the game with 16 points in as many minutes. He made all 3 of his shots inside the arc and 3 of 5 from downtown.
Now Joventut can look ahead knowing it can rely on its frontcourt's expert combination of experience, power and effectiveness in the knock-out rounds.