Valencia Basket retained third place in the regular phase after beating Monbus Obradoiro this Saturday (85-89) in a game that was complicated by a disastrous last quarter until Montenegrin Bojan Dubljevic returned to the court, which did not prevent Canadian Philip Scrubb from having two free throws with one second left to force extra time.
With the permanence assured after his triumph in Badalona, Obradoiro entered the game without defensive intensity and Valencia punished himrelying on the success of Dubljevic, unstoppable under the hoops and effective from the three-point line.
Moncho Fernández called a timeout (8-14) but his team continued without waking up until two triples in a row by Álex Suárez and another by Robertson equalized the clash after a 10-0 run that Joan Peñarroya stopped with another timeout. And it worked for him, because his team escaped again, with Dimitrijevic hurting the defense of an Obradoiro who multiplied his errors.
The panorama darkened even more for the Santiago team, hit with another partial 0-8 start (20-37), although an unsportsmanlike foul on Dimitrijevic once again oxygenated Moncho Fernández’s menwho rejoined the game before Robertson brought out his entire repertoire to scare Peñarroya (36-45).
Moncho Fernández gave the address to veteran Albert Oliver, who had been honored in the 6th minute of the first quarter, and an assist from him lifted the fans from their seats. Sar squeezed and Valencia survived ahead thanks to their triples -three Van Rossomone from Dubljevic and another from Claver (49-60, min.24).
Moncho Fernández rotated to match that physical demand that Valencia proposed but it was impossible. Knowing that Joventut was winning on Baskonia’s court, the taronjas pulled ex officio to distance themselves before the last quarter (49-65, 60-74).
The clash seemed doomed but, with their first unit on the bench, Valencia faded. The Obradoiro began to file his disadvantage, and as the minutes passed he began to dream of an epic comeback. Peñarroya requested time out, but his rival was already launched. Dubljevic and Claver returned to the track, but Obradoiro turned the score around with three minutes to go after a scandalous 29-2 run.
Valencia withstood the Galician push (82-80), before entrusting themselves to Van Rossom and, above all, Dubljevic to regain control with just over thirty seconds to play.
A spectacular triple by Philip Scrubb kept Obradoiro alive, who sent Van Rosson to the free throw line, who missed the second, leaving the last attack to his rival. Philip Scrubb, with his wrist warmed up, played it and Rivero stopped him at foul. But the Canadian missed the first shot, forcing him to go for the miss on the second to grab an impossible rebound.