At last the match between Zaragoza and Baskonia (97-79) could be played. Neven Spahija tested positive for antigens, but then the PCR tested negative. Nonetheless, David Gil was in charge of directing the team from the band. He already coincided with the Croatian in his first stage as coach of the Vitoria team and now he has grown in status and stripes. Murat Bilge and Xavi Aspe acted as assistants. The Turk was Dusko Ivanovic’s second and will finish the season in Vitoria. The game was initially scheduled for 7:00 p.m., then moved to 9:30 p.m. and it ended up being played at ten o’clock at night. The crash could not be followed by television in its entirety. It was combined with Burgos-Betis.
The Vitorians started better with a Granger basket, two followed by Baldwin and an Enoch that grew little by little. But an impressive 12-0 quarter from the hands made it 21-12 with 3 minutes remaining in the first quarter. David Gil had to stop the local streak with a timeout because the Prince Felipe team had already let their hair down. The Casademont took advantage of the gifts from the Basque team and left at the end of the first installment with a resounding 28-15. Mobley, Thompson, Bone and Yusta were the main gunners.
Things did not start better for the visitors in the second period because the Aragonese were still plugged (34-17, min. 13). Three later the difference was already 20 points (41-21). Bitci Baskonia did not appear, received a number of baskets that led to a projection of more than 100 points against and did not find offensive ways to score. The rebound was dominated by Casademont and, despite not adding many losses, the percentages of Baskonia were very poor. Mobley did a lot of damage to the rival and, already in time of rest, the things seemed decided.
Only Baldwin, Enoch, Granger and Sedekerskis added positively in the first two quarters. The 52-26 was very significant. The valuation of the hands, in dressing room time, was 73 and that of Baskonia, 8, one of the lowest of the season. Those of Ponsarnau doubled the Vitorians who saw their chances of being seeded in the Granada Cup fade away and, furthermore, it jeopardized their overall basketaverage. Competing in the Nasrid capital seems already a reality but nobody wants to fall for the second hype and come across a coconut at the first exchange.
With 64-35 in the 26th minute, everything was ready for sentencing. Giedraitis and Fontecchio woke up but the rival had already opened a definitive gap. Enoch and Baldwin tried to avoid blushing as well, but to no avail. With 2 minutes to go to finish the fourth, Mobley had already 20 points and between Thomson and Bone they added another twenty. The last quarter was left over, especially when it started at almost 11:30 p.m.
They all wanted to go home and there was already very little at stake. Bitci approached on the scoreboard but the distances were already insurmountable (83-74, min. 38). The Basques easily won the second half but were doomed from the break. Between Mobley, Bone and Thomson they added 48 points of the 97 of the whole team.