Undefeated Valencia Basket wins in Zaragoza

Valencia Basket kept its perfect record intact by beating CAI Zaragoza 76-84 on the road Tuesday. Valencia, which had already clinched a Last 32 berth, became the first team in the Eurocup this season to seven wins and is closing in on clinching first place in Group C. The loss dropped CAI to 4-3. Valencia led most of the game, but CAI rallied early in the fourth quarter to get to within 4. Valencia responded with aa unanswered points- 7 of which came from Justin Hamilton, to lock the game up. Hamilton starred with 20 points and 9 rebounds, Antoine Diot added 15 points, Rafa Martinez scored 13 and Jon Stefansson 12. Valencia made 13 of 25 three-pointers in the game. Henk Norel and Halil Kanacevic scored 13 each for CAI, Nate Linhart added 11 points and Sek Henry had 10 in defeat.

CAI got off to an ideal start as Norel, Toma Bellas and Linhart made it 6-0. Justin Hamilton helped get Valencia going and a Luke Sikma triple gave the visitors their first lead, 8-9. Linhart and Diot traded threes after which Martinez connected from downtown to put Valencia in front again. Martinez sandwiched two more triples around another by Stevan Jelovac for a 17-22 Valencia edge. Stefansson free throws put the visitors up 7 before Jelovac drew CAI within 22-26 after 10 minutes. Henry tied it at 26-26 early in the second quarter, but Stefansson and Hamilton rebuilt a small Valencia cushion. Kanacevic tied it for the hosts again only to run into Stefansson and Hamilton again. John Shurna and Martinez each hit threes on a 0-11 Valencia march that put the visitors in control. After an Isaac Fotu three-pointer, Diot made it 40-50 at halftime.

Fernando San Emeterio and Diot added to the Valencia lead, but Fotu and Henry managed to keep CAI in the picture. Drake Diener hit a three and then drew a foul shooting a three. His 3 free throws closed the deficit to 55-60. Stefansson’s first three-pointer as the center of a 0-7 spurt that pushed the difference to 12. Kanacevic made it 60-70 through three quarters. Kanacevic scored twice as the hosts closed to within 4 early in the fourth quarter. However Valencia silenced the CAI attack for nearly five minutes while scored 11 straight points to put the game away. Hamilton capped the run with a triple to make it 66-81 as the visitors chalked up their seventh straight win.