Fast start from Beaubois sees Baskonia cruise past Zvezda

Rodrigue Beaubois inspired Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz to a huge 103-84 win over Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade at the Fernando Buesa Arena on Friday. Beaubois scored 14 points in the opening 5 minutes 36 seconds to give his team a big early lead that was never threatened afterwards. Baskonia led by double digits nearly all the way and comfortably secured a victory to move within one win of the playoffs places with a 10-11 record. Zvezda is now two games further back at 8-13. Beaubois top-scored with 25 points for the winners, making 9 of 12 two-point attempts and 2 of 3 from long range, while Matt Janning added 18 points, all on triples. There were also solid contributions from Patricio Garino with 12 points, Toko Shengelia with 11 points and 7 rebounds, and Jayson Granger with 10 points and 6 assists. Baskonia dished a total of 28 assists, one short of a club record. Dylan Ennis topped Zvezda's scorers with 22 points on 4-of-5 three-point shooting, while Nemanja Dangubic and Dejan Davidovac both scored 10.

Baskonia made a fast start behind Beaubois, who needed only 8 seconds to drain his first triple to set the tone for his performance. Beaubois then hit a trio of quickfire two-pointers, scoring his team's first 9 points in just over 2 minutes. Zvezda struck back with a triple from Dangubic and 4 points for Ennis, but Beaubois got going again with a two-pointer and a triple, before making a steal and assisting for Johannes Voigtmann, whose layup made it 20-11. Marcelinho Huertas hit from deep and Garino threw down a big slam as Baskonia's offense continued to flow, finishing the first quarter at 27-17. A triple from Janning and Shengelia's layup made it 34-19 early in the second, and another Garino score soon extended the lead to 17 points. Ennis sparked a Zvezda response with a layup and then a triple, both with free throws added on. But Janning restarted the hosts with a triple, and a Janis Timma layup took Baskonia past 50 points as the first half ended 53-40, fittingly, with another Beaubois score.

Taylor Rochestie started the third quarter with a triple, before Voigtmann started the home team's second-half account from close range as Zvezda lost Stefan Jankovic after a second unsportsmanlike foul. Granger weaved for layup and Beaubois first went going coast to coast and then added another layup-and-one. Triples from Branko Lazic and Ennis – his third – brought Zvezda closer, but Beaubois struck again with a floater to protect his team's lead. Janning struck from downtown for the third time, Shengelia threw down a fastbreak slam, and the third quarter finished at 75-59. Mathias Lessort's three-point play gave Zvezda a positive start to the final period, but two-pointers from Vincent Poirier and Huertas reasserted the home team's dominance. Janning's fourth and fifth triples stretched the lead to 87-64, and he soon added his sixth downtown strike. Dangubic, Davidovac and Rochestie all netted from long range to give Zvezda a glimmer of hope at 90-75, and Nikola Jovanovic scored twice in quick succession from close range. But Beaubois burst back into action with another layup and Shengelia's fastbreak score took Baskonia into triple figures to put the exclamation mark on a very convincing victory.