The Spanish side clearly enjoyed its debut in a brand-new venue, producing a vintage performance
Roig Arena inspired Valencia to impressive victory over Virtus
Straipsnis
3 Minutė skaityti
Regular Season
Round 2 of 38
Regular Season
Valencia BasketVBC
10394
Virtus BolognaVIR
Overview
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Valencia Basket made a flying start in its shining new palace, Roig Arena, romping to a 103-94 win over Virtus Segafredo Bologna in the EuroLeague on a night the Spanish club’s fans will savor for a long time.
Having bid farewell to their iconic La Fonteta with Valencia competing in the BKT EuroCup last season while the glittering new palace was being built, joyous fans gave club president Juan Roig a standing ovation after he made his way into the gym.
Valencia, whose season is going from strength to strength as it won the Spanish Super Cup and beat LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne in the EuroLeague’s opening round, was clearly inspired by a festive atmosphere to dismantle battling Virtus.
Having carved out a 49-46 first-half lead despite shooting a mere 3 of 15 from downtown in the opening 20 minutes, Valencia made 9-of-15 long-range efforts in the second as 19-year-old Sergio De Larrea showcased his immense talent.
The teenager, tipped to become the next big thing in Spanish basketball with the national team going through a painful transition, drained 23 points in just 21 minutes on the court as he nailed 5-of-7 shots from beyond the three-point arc.
With a near capacity crowd of 14,606 setting a new club record for attendance, De Larrea served up the energy of a youngster coupled with the maturity of a stalwart as he hit some clutch shots while showing the utmost humility in his postgame comments.
“All the people of Valencia cheered and encouraged us, making me very proud that we played here tonight,” he said in a courtside interview. “It’s all about team work, one time it’s one player who steps up to the plate, another time it’s someone else. The important thing is that we played as a team and won the game.”
Omari Moore, who marked his home debut for Valencia with an impressive effort of 15 points, 6 assists and 4 boards, was galvanized by the electrifying atmosphere generated by the home faithful, whose joy in the Roig Arena was everywhere to be seen.
“The fans did a super job as everybody was very loud,” he said. “We made runs when we needed to and we got a good team win. We needed to stay poised because we played against a really good team but we stayed solid and found a way to win the game.”
Valencia head coach Pedro Martinez duly reminded his players there was no time to rest on laurels in the midst of a grueling schedule comprising Europe’s toughest national league and the EuroLeague, with Valencia up next against one of its perennial Spanish rivals.
“We played with a lot of rhythm in the second half and when you score some three-pointers everything looks easier,” Martinez elaborated.
“We had a lot of players who stepped up in crucial moments. We have to stay focused because we’ve got a big game against Barcelona in the Spanish League on Sunday, meaning that there is no room for us to dwell on our good start to the season.”