The Bregoán River is a team with many carats and better basketball. Also without Musa, the best player of the season in ACB. Who would say that Mrsic’s team has just prevailed in Gran Canaria without a player of such caliber. The team, once again with a lousy shot selection in the decisive seconds, squandered their advantage in a match they had won and their playoff options are complicated.
Breogán, with Sakho striking inside, began by taking the lead on the scoreboard at the start of the game. However, a triple from Brussino and five straight points from Chery put the islanders ahead, 16-13. Mahalbasic once again gave his team the advantage, and the exchange of blows on both sides risked a battle as close as it was later shown with the 20-21 end of the first quarter.
Granca resumed the match with new vigor and greater fortitude, becoming strong at this start Khalifa Diop, member of the best young quintet of the competition, with four points in a row. Cruz approached Breogán with a triplebut was answered by Chery from the same distance, 31-24, who was still in charge of his team’s operations.
A quick 14-4 run kept Gran Canaria ahead, 34-25. Ennis had come out in time to revolutionize the yellow team, and between his eighth point and Salvó’s 2 + 1 the distance was already +10: 41-31. Not that Mrsic’s host is one to surrender easily.achieving a partial 0-7 that, among other things, allowed him to reach the break with everything to decide: 44-40.
In the second half, Gran Canaria maintained its partial dominance, but the truth is that they could not break the game, perhaps having at least a minute of calm. Slaugher put up a dangerous 60-53, but the 68-62 that came shortly after left everything as open as it happened later.
Little by little, gathering patience and winning instinct at the right moment, Breogán gave the game a final blow when Cruz unleashed a three-pointer over the insular rim that made nerves appear at the local level: 79-80. Two Mahalbasic free kicks seemed to tip the away side’s victory81-84, but Slaughter, precipitated earlier, tied from 6.75.
With everything to be decided, Erik Quintela became a giant. Much more than Khalifa Diop, who triples him in size, when he won the decisive 1-1 with which he put his team 84-86, figures that would no longer move. Without Granca he had failed in the previous defense, a decisive misunderstanding between Diop himself and Slaughter, even more so when he had to try, at least, to tie. With little more than a second to go, and after a throw-in, the ball reached Shurna, possibly the worst of his five options on the court, whose three-pointer didn’t even touch a ring, much to the relief of a Breogán who had grown so much in adversity.