Baskonia gets win, tiebreaker over Bayern
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz registered a huge 76-68 win over visiting FC Bayern Munich at Fernando Buesa Arena on Friday night. Both teams now hold 11-11 records, seventh best in the EuroLeague, but Baskonia holds the all-important head-to-head tiebreaker after overcoming a 6-point loss to Bayern from Round 4. Baskonia never trailed after halftime, but did not have a double-digit margin until an 8-0 run opened a 72-62 lead with 2 and a half minutes left, and the home team took the tiebreaker with a buzzer-beating put-back by Vincent Poirier right at the end. The big man finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Matt Janning led all Baskonia scorers with 13 points. Derrick Williams led Bayern with 18 points, and Danilo Barthel finished with 11 in the losing effort.
The teams struggled offensively early, managing just 6 points between them in the opening 4 minutes. A corner triple from Johannes Voigtmann got the hosts going, and Janning’s step-back triple made it 10-6. A pair of dunks from Poirier, and another one from Darrun Hilliard, had Baskonia up 19-11, but the visitors scored 5 points in the first quarter’s final 25 seconds, including a triple from Barthel, and Baskonia held a 19-16 lead after 10 minutes. Bayern caught up in the second quarter, when Williams strung together a corner triple and an alley-oop dunk to tie it at 25-25. The teams kept trading blows, and Bayern took a 33-35 lead, but Hilliard had a three-point play and Voigtmann a buzzer-beating put-back to make it 38-37 at halftime. Back-to-back triples from Janning and Luca Vildoza extended it to 44-37, but Bayern held the hosts without a single point for more than 4 minutes. A fastbreak layup from Nihad Dedovic cut within a point, before a triple from Braydon Hobbs tied it at 46-46. Jalen Jones had a triple and a fastbreak dunk to restore Baskonia’s lead, before Shavon Shields scored 6 points, including a layup with time winding down, to make it 59-53 at the end of the third. Marcelinho Huertas opened the fourth quarter with a second-chance three-pointer, and a dunk from Jones opened 64-55. Williams fueled a 0-7 run in less than 2 minutes to get Bayern within a single possession, but in the next 2 minutes Janning and Voigtmann each hit a three-pointer, before Poirier’s dunk opened the first double-digit lead of the night, 72-62. Barthel’s fastbreak layup gave the visitors hope, cutting within 6 points in the penultimate minute, but the hosts forced a turnover with 35 seconds left, which sealed the victory. There was still a battle to win the tiebreaker, and a put-back from Poirier beat the buzzer to give the hosts a much-wanted 8-point win.
Key run
Bayern got within 64-62 with 5:40 to go, but remained scoreless for the next 3 and a half minutes, while Matt Janning and Johannes Vogitamann nailed back-to-back triples, before Darrun Hilliard grabbed an offensive board and fed Vincent Poirier for a dunk that opened a 72-62 lead with just over 2:30 to go.
Sweet buzzer-beaters
Baskonia scored buzzer-beating put-backs at the end of each half. Voigtmann fought for one to beat the halftime buzzer and give the hosts a 38-37 lead at the break, and Poirier was in the right place at the very end, just beating the buzzer to give Baskonia an 8-point win.
Key contributors
Baskonia had five scorers in double digits. Jalen Jones netted 12 points in just 15 minutes on the floor, Johannes Voigtmann had 10 points and 9 rebounds, while Shavon Shields also scored 10 in victory.
Did you catch?
Matt Janning came into this game 1 point shy of a 1,000-point milestone, and wasted no time reaching it with Baskonia’s first basket of the night.
Next game
EuroLeague goes on a week-long break, but when teams return to action in two weeks time for Round 23, both Bayern and Baskonia will pay a visit to great Spanish powerhouses. Bayern will travel to face third-place Real Madrid (17-5), while Baskonia will play against fifth-place FC Barcelona Lassa (13-9).
Friday, February 8, 2019
Euroleague.net