Joan Penarroya's return to take on Valencia Basket as Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz head coach dominated much of the pre-match buildup to this Round 1 meeting, yet he was the one who left La Fonteta happy as a handful of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague debutants helped Baskonia emerge with an 81-71 victory.
Baskonia shows spirit to down Valencia, 81-71
The star performer for Baskonia was Maik Kotsar, who was appearing in his first EuroLeague fixture after shining with Hamburg Towers in the 7DAYS EuroCup last season. The Estonian finished with 21 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists in the victory, with 15 of those points coming in the first half as he helped keep Baskonia in the game. Then, in the second half, Baskonia had Rokas Giedraitis and Darius Thompson step up in particular, as Giedraitis recorded 19 points and 7 rebounds, while Thompson – another EuroLeague debutant – had 8 points and a game-high 11 assists. Valencia's Jasiel Rivero and Klemen Prepelic put up 14 and 12 points, respectively, but the hosts were unable to keep touch with Baskonia from the midway point of the second period onwards.
Valencia raced out to a sizeable lead in both the first and second quarters, but Baskonia managed to stay alive, led by first-year EuroLeague players Kotsar and Markus Howard. At the half, they combined for 25 points – 15 for Kotsar and 10 for Howard – as Baskonia went into the break with a four-point advantage. From there, Baskonia began to further assert its control, with Giedraitis and Thompson getting more involved in the offensive sets. Valencia tried its best to chip into Baskonia's lead, but whenever it began to do so, there was a response from Baskonia. In the last few minutes of the game, Victor Claver drained a three-pointer to pull Valencia within five points, but then Giedraitis followed up a Kotsar two-pointer by hitting a three to reestablish Baskonia's 10-point lead, which it held on to until the game's final buzzer.