Bennet Cantu beat Bizkaia Bilbao Basket 78-69: Euroleague Recap
Italian team Bennet Cantu enjoyed their second consecutive win at home after they overpowered Bizkaia Bilbao Basket 78-69 in an exciting game played at the Pala Desio Arena. Cantu have now won two out of three games and are placed
at second spot in Group A.
Giorgi Shermadini, who is emerging as a star with every passing game, was easily the most outstanding player from Cantu and ended the night with 6 rebounds and 16 points on an 8 for 9 shooting from the paint. Maarten Leunen was
also majestic and added 14 along with 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Manuchar Markoishvili (12) and Andrea Cinciarini (10) were the other two prominent scorers from the winning side.
Bennet’s defense was sturdy. They never allowed Bizkaia to penetrate into their D. Satisfied with team’s overall performance and praising the defense, Bennet’s coach, Andrea Trencher said;
"This was an amazing basketball game. Personally, I've never seen 37 assists in a single match. Cinciarini played a superb game on Jackson on defense, and as a team we did a great job on Vasiliadis and Blums, who are to us the
two key players for Bizkaia Bilbao. This was our best game in the competition so far."
While Bennet’s defense did hold Vasiliadis and Janis Blums from scoring, they couldn’t stop Alex Mumbru, who ended with game-high 20 points and 4 rebounds. He was 5 for 9 from the paint and 2 for 3 from three-point range. Marko
Banic added 19 points on a near perfect including 7 for 8 effort from the two point range and 5 for 6 from the free throw line. D’Or Fischer also tried hard and chipped in with 10.
Vladimir Micov started the proceedings for Cantu however a double strike from Bizkaia’s Roger Grimau put them ahead by 4-2 in the starting 2 minutes of the game. The scores were tied at 6-6 in the initial part of the quarter but
a three-pointer for Mumbru took Bizkaia ahead again. Shermadini then scored in quick succession and took Cantu ahead by 5 points 16-11 with nearly three minutes to go. The 5 point lead was maintained (18-13) in the passage that followed, but Mumbru scored
through a layup in the dying seconds of quarter to make it a 3 point game.
Janis struck early in the next quarter to reduce the lead further.
Both teams were neck to neck in the first 4 minutes of the quarter however two three-pointers by Cantu within a minute, once again took them in front at 30-23. The lead just kept mounting from there on in and when Micov netted
the last shot of quarter it grew to 11 points at 42-31.
Bizkaia stormed onto the court in the third quarter and by the midway mark, they managed to shave off their deficit to 5 points, 44-39. However, the onslaught from Cantu commenced again, this time in the form of a 16-7 spurt,
taking their advantage to 60-46. Bizkaia did manage to reduce the lead to 10 points, 60-50, but were up against it going into the last frame.
Bizkaia did not give up though and reduced their deficit to 66-61. However that was the closest they got as two three pointers in less than three minutes by Manuchar took the game away from them.
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