2019-20Regular SeasonRound 17
Valencia Basket 91
ALBA Berlin 77
January 03, 2020 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 LA FONTETA

Valencia rallies past ALBA

In a rematch of last season's 7DAYS EuroCup Finals, Valencia Basket confirmed its outstanding moment by downing ALBA Berlin 91-77 at La Fonteta on Friday. Valencia improved to 8-9 in the standings, overcoming a 0-5 start, while ALBA dropped to 5-12. Jordan Loyd led the winners with 19 points. Alberto Abalde added 16, Aaron Doornekamp had 15, Mike Tobey got 11 and Bojan Dubljevic contributed 10 for Valencia while Sam Van Rossom dished 11 assists. Marcus Eriksson led ALBA with 14 points. Rokas Giedraitis and Martin Hermannsson each added 13 while Landry Nnoko got 10 for the guests. Luke Sikma and Nnoko shone early, then Jonas Mattisseck, Niels Giffey and Giedraitis each struck from beyond the arc for a 18-27 ALBA lead after 10 minutes. Abalde and Doornekamp rescued Valencia but Eriksson and Giedraitis allowed ALBA to keep a 37-42 margin at halftime. A three-point play by Tobey gave Valencia its first lead midway through the third quarter. Valencia improved its margin to 62-57 after 30 minutes and to 82-71 behind an unstoppable Doornekamp, enough to seal the outcome.

Nnoko got ALBA going with a put-back slam and Hermannsson added a floater but Quino Colom quickly tied the game, 4-4. Sikma scored down low and added a wild alley-oop in a 0-8 run that Nnoko capped with a jump hook for a 4-12 score. Nnoko kept pacing the guests with an alley-oop and Mattisseck struck from downtown to make it a double-digit game. Kresimir Nikic scored down low but Loyd and Abalde brought Valencia a bit closer, 14-22. Giffey scored off a spin move in the low post and Giedraitis added a triple but Tobey kept Valencia within 18-27 after 10 minutes. Abalde and Tim Schneider exchanged three-pointers early in the second, then Doornekamp struck twice from beyond the arc. Eriksson and Giedraitis joined the three-point shootout to boost ALBA's lead to 29-36. Abalde and Dubljevic tried to change things for the hosts but Hermannsson and Makai Mason each hit a jumper. Loyd buried a floater and Dubljevic dunked to make it 37-42 at halftime. Hermannsson hit a jumper after the break but Van Rossom and Loyd combined for all the points in a 7-0 run that tied it at 44-44. Nnoko stepped up with a couple of close baskets, then Giedraitis added a layup but Loyd kept Valencia close. Tobey and Fernando San Emeterio stepped up with consecutive three-point plays that gave Valencia its first lead, 55-50, after a 9-0 run. Hermannsson answered from downtown and Tyler Cavanaugh added a backdoor layup to tied the game. San Emeterio kept pacing Valencia with a triple and Colom found Tobey for a dunk, but Hermannsson kept ALBA within 62-57 after 30 minutes. Vanja Marinkovic found his first points early in the fourth quarter but Eriksson downed a triple for ALBA. Abalde answered with a layup-plus-foul and Doornekamp added a three-pointer that made it a double-digit game, 70-60. ALBA did not panic, as Eriksson, Giedraitis and Mason each buried one from beyond the arc to make the hosts call timeout at 72-69. Abalde rescued Valencia with a running jumper and Dubljevic added a jump hook for a 76-71 score. Then Doornekamp buried back-to-back three-pointers to seal the outcome, as ALBA never recovered.

Pivotal performer

Aaron Doornekamp, who averaged 3.1 points in 16 games until now, made the difference and ignited Valencia's comeback with his shots from beyond the arc. He finished the game with 15 points, hitting 5-of-6 shots from downtown, two coming when his team was struggling in the second quarter and another two to seal the outcome down the stretch.

Game-changing moment

A final push allowed ALBA to get within 72-69 midway through the fourth quarter. But then Alberto Abalde banked in a running shot, which Bojan Dubljevic followed with a jump hook to refresh Valencia's offense. Doornekamp soon buried consecutive three-pointers to seal the outcome, 82-71, after a 10-2 run in crunch time.

Stellar stat

Valencia outrebounded ALBA by 31-27, pulling down 15 offensive rebounds. The hosts also forced ALBA to pick up as many as 19 turnovers. All those extra possessions made the difference, as well as Valencia's free throw accuracy (17-of-18, 94.4%).

Did you notice?

Valencia is now 19-0 against German teams at La Fonteta, getting 6 wins against ALBA, 3 against ratiopharm Ulm, 2 each against Frankfurt Skyliners and FC Bayern Munich, and one each against RheinEnergie Cologne, Telekom Baskets Bonn, Artland Dragons, Wuerzburg, EWE Baskets Oldenburg and Brose Bamberg. Valencia also beat ALBA in the 2010 EuroCup Championship Game played in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Next game:

ALBA hosts Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv on Thursday, January 9, before Valencia welcomes Olympiacos Piraeus on Friday.

Jordan Loyd - Valencia Basket - EB19
Friday, January 3, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; PETEK, SASO; UDYANSKYY, EDUARD
Attendance: 7809
By Quarter1234
Valencia Basket18192529
ALBA Berlin27151520
End of Quarter1234
Valencia Basket18376291
ALBA Berlin27425777
Valencia Basket
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 COLOM, QUINO 14:48 6 1/2   4/4       3   2     1 2 7
2 MARINKOVIC, VANJA 10:13 4 2/2 0/2     1 1     3          
3 LOYD, JORDAN 26:13 19 3/8 3/4 4/4       3         3 4 17
6 ABALDE, ALBERTO 28:02 16 5/5 1/2 3/3 1 4 5 1   1       2 22
7 LABEYRIE, LOUIS 19:36     0/1   1 2 3 2           1 5
9 VAN ROSSOM, SAM 23:33 2 1/2 0/1     1 1 11 3 1       1 15
10 TOBEY, MIKE 14:24 11 5/6 0/1 1/2 2 3 5   2 1 1   1 3 17
12 MOTUM, BROCK 4:18 2 0/2 0/2 2/2 1   1         1 1 1 -2
14 DUBLJEVIC, BOJAN 25:36 10 4/10 0/1 2/2 6 4 10 1 3 1     2 2 16
16 VIVES, GUILLEM 3:52     0/2             2     1   -5
19 SAN EMETERIO, FERNANDO 9:01 6 1/1 1/1 1/1           2     1 2 5
42 DOORNEKAMP, AARON 20:24 15 0/2 5/7           2       3 2 12
Team           4 1 5               5
Totals 200:00 91 22/40 10/24 17/18 15 16 31 21 10 13 1 1 13 20 114
        55% 41.7% 94.4%
Head coach: PONSARNAU, JAUME
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
ALBA Berlin
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 MASON, MAKAI 16:18 5 1/3 1/2         1   1         2
5 GIFFEY, NIELS 12:23 8 1/1 2/3   1 1 2 2 1       3   9
8 ERIKSSON, MARCUS 27:57 14 1/2 4/9     1 1           2 3 10
9 MATTISSECK, JONAS 15:58 3   1/4   1   1 2   1     1   1
10 SCHNEIDER, TIM 8:10 3   1/1             1     1   1
15 HERMANNSSON, MARTIN 26:11 13 4/7 1/3 2/2       5   6       4 11
16 NIKIC, KRESIMIR 6:02 2 1/1       1 1     1     1   1
25 OGBE, KENNETH 4:18   0/1       1 1 1         2   -1
31 GIEDRAITIS, ROKAS 25:57 13 2/2 3/6     3 3 2         2   13
34 CAVANAUGH, TYLER 5:05 2 1/2 0/1   1   1 1       1 2   -1
35 NNOKO, LANDRY 25:59 10 5/5     3 5 8     5 1   2 4 16
43 SIKMA, LUKE 25:42 4 2/3 0/2   2 3 5 6 4 4     4 2 10
Team           1 3 4               4
Totals 200:00 77 18/27 13/31 2/2 9 18 27 20 5 19 1 1 20 13 76
        66.7% 41.9% 100%
Head coach: GARCIA RENESES, AITO

Head Coaches

PONSARNAU, JAUME
Valencia Basket

"We said at the beginning of the season we needed to improve. We were a team that started the season with only a few players with EuroLeague experience, changing some of our references this season. We want to build a competitive team and had a tough calendar, playing against the EuroLeague champion and the finalist right away, the best teams. We learned from all of that - our reference was what Zalgiris did in the last few years. Zalgiris never had a great start but grew and improved, and that was our challenge. We believed our players could improve and this is what we are doing. We have enough players to turn games around in terms of energy, like we did today."

"We knew that if we played well and tried to meet our highest effort for 40 minutes, we had our chances due to the feel of the game. We started badly but when we found our feel on defense, we ran the break and controlled their shooters better, and changed the game. It is very important to keep improving, because the competition will improve for sure [in the second half of the regular season]. We have to keep improving because we want to be more competitive every time."

GARCIA RENESES, AITO
ALBA Berlin
"First of all, congratulations to Valencia. They played a very good game, with a lot of energy. Logically, we will try to learn from this, and one thing we must learn is not to make so many turnovers. I would also like to draw more fouls. For instance, we shot two free throws in the whole game and they shot 18. This is probably because we don't know how to draw fouls when they have pressure, and they know how to do that. If you have a lot of professional players, it is less difficult to adjust to the EuroLeague, even when it is difficult because you spend the season travelling and playing games. If you have injuries and less professional players available, it is even more difficult. It is something that we accept - we know we have to be in the EuroLeague to learn, and this is what we are trying to do."

Players

ABALDE, ALBERTO
Valencia Basket
"It was a tough game. ALBA is a very good team that plays good basketball, with high rhythm. It was very difficult for us, especially in the first half, when we didn't find the rhythm. In the second half, we did a better job, controlled the rebounds and played our game on offense. It was a really good win for us. I am feeling good and focusing on helping my team, on improving as a player every day. This is the only way to get better."
LOYD, JORDAN
Valencia Basket
"This is why we [shooters] are here. Our point guards are doing a great job on giving us the ball and it is our job to deliver. We are just happy to knock a few down tonight. [The playoffs] is always the goal and this team has been really resilient lately. We showed a lot of fight, no matter what the situation is, what game. We are playing with real confidence."
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