Lenovo Tenerife added this Tuesday an important victory against Rytas Vilnius by 89-75 within the Top-16 of the FIBA Champions League, in a very even duel, very entertaining and that was decided in a third quarter in which Txus Vidorreta’s men were more successful both in defense and attack.
The Lenovo Tenerife managed to overcome important setbacks in this crash, such as theto the injury of Uruguayan Bruno Fitipaldo, who was injured in the last minute of the first quarterwith which Vidorreta could only count on the Brazilian Marcelinho Huertas as the only point guard, and on the rebounding power of the Lithuanian team, very strong in that facet throughout the match.
Good staging by a Lenovo Tenerife that faced an intense opponent, very technical and who offered a daring game to try to win the match, but he lacked more bench to maintain the level that the insular team also offered.
He highlighted the good performance of Kyle Wiltjerwho knew how to successfully find the path to victory and almost always surpassed his defender and scored important baskets.
Rytas Vilnius started the game ready for anything with a 0-7 that made clear their intentions to leave the island with a victory. The islanders tried to turn the score around looking for their success in the outside shot, but The local success was also accompanied by that of the rival, so the advantages continued to be for the Lithuanian teamuntil Fran Guerra put his team ahead (19-18, min.9).
The only concern in this first quarter was the injury of point guard Bruno Fitipaldo, leaving Txus Vidorreta with only one point guard.
Without a doubt, it was an entertaining first quarter, very disputed, but with a more accurate and strong Rytas Vilnius under the basket with a Buva who managed to dominate the area.
In the second room, the lithuanian team put back a small advantage on the scoreboard (24-30, min14) which caused Txus Vidorreta to stop the match in search of reorganizing his team, both in attack and defense.
Lenovo Tenerife was losing control of the game and was unable to generate danger in attack. Wiltjer’s entry gave his team some fresh airmainly because he found his way to the basket along the baseline taking advantage of the weakness of his defender, Kariniauskas.
Wiltjer’s six straight points put the score at 26-30a difference that the Lithuanians maintained until the end of the second quarter.
Lenovo Tenerife, despite the lack of success from the outside and the absence of Bruno Fitipaldo, who was injured, knew how to arrive “alive” at half-time and wait for the second half.
After the break another Lenovo Tenerife was seen, which managed to turn the score around and get ahead again (44-41). It was no longer just the success that he was beginning to have, but the sensations on the pitch and against a rival who was showing the effort made so far.
Partial 14-2 for the people of Tenerife and the game already had another dominator on the field, a Tenerife that, despite continuing to have rebounding problems, did improve significantly in attack and took advantage of any doubts from its rival.
With 60-49, the last moments of the third quarter were reached, an unthinkable difference after seeing the first two quarters. Already in the final stretch of the clash, Tenerife knew how to handle the game better with the score in favor and although they had some doubts, they ended up winning and with more ease than expected.