Zunder Palencia was proclaimed champion of the Princess of Asturias Cup this Saturday for the third time in its history after beating MoraBanc Andorra in front of their fans, in a disputed final in which they were forced to come back in the second half, which dominated for much of the game and they stood up until the last minute (74-69).
In the reissue of the final played in 2014the two best teams in the first round of the LEB Oro demonstrated such condition, although the locals ended up prevailing, thus prolonging their undefeated status in a packed Palencia Municipal Pavilion and the tradition that the team that has been the host since the final is played in a single match usually wins the title.
The initial equality did not last long, since a partial 0-8 in favor of the visiting team forced Pedro Rivero to stop the game early when he saw himself with a 5-13 against in the middle of the first quarter. His players continued to be stuck in attack, with low shooting percentages, and suffering from behind to contain the attacks from those from the Principality, who they left at the end of the first ten minutes seven up (15-22, min 10).
The American Micah Speight became a nightmare for his former team’s defense. His great performance in the first part, with 18 points, 4 rebounds, five fouls received and a PIR of 25gave his team advantages of up to twelve points, although a final stretch from Palencia prevented greater evils and left the difference at half-time by eight (31-39, min 20).
The start of the second half was delayed for more than twenty minutes to repair a backboard that broke during the previous warm-up. Once the incident is resolved, the final resumed with a Zunder Palencia much more involved in the gamewhich was cutting the differences until it was located behind those of the Principality after the dispute of the first six minutes of the third act (41-43).
The match entered a phase of equality, with minimum income from MoraBancwho refused to give up his dominance on the scoreboard, which he achieved with great effort at the end of an even third ten minutes (49-53, min 30).
After many minutes behind, the locals managed to tie the match nine minutes from the end thanks to a jump shot by Schmidt, which lit the stands of a Municipal Pavilion packed with five thousand spectators. Shortly after, Martínez-Díaz put his team ahead, that with the passing of the minutes they continued to grow and believe in their chances of victory thanks to the success of men like Wintering, top scorer for the hosts with 18 points.
The game came even to its last four and a half minutes (61-60) and, from there, Zunder put his game one more gear, he continued blinding his hoop and dominating the rebound in a final rush that allowed him to seal the victory, leaving an Andorran team that dominated the match for many minutes but missed the contribution of a Speight who, after shining in the first half, could only score two points in the second.
