Andorra defense shuts down Antwerp for first win

MoraBanc Andorra put together a big comeback in beating Telenet Giants Antwerp 60-71 for its first victory of the young 7DAYS EuroCup season. Andorra trailed by 16 points late in the first half, but dominated the second half in allowing just 13 points in the final 20 minutes. Jeremy Senglin paced Andorra with 21 points while Tyson Perez collected 13 points and 12 rebounds. Clevin Hannah had 12 points and Babatunde Olumuyiwa chipped in 7 points and 10 rebounds in helping Andorra improve to 1-1 in Group C. Antwerp dropped to 0-2 despite David Dudzinski tallying 14 points and 9 rebounds. Vrenz Bleijenbergh managed 12 points with Speedy Smith and Stephaun Branch both scoring 10 points in the loss.

Andorra started on fire from three-point range with Perez sandwiching triples around an Oriol Pauli three for a 2-9 lead after three possessions. Antwerp worked to get the ball inside and Dudzinski converted a three-point play and added another basket to trim the deficit to 13-14. Dudzinski then drained a three-pointer as the hosts went up 20-17. Hannah matched the triple only to see Bleijenbergh made a pair of layups for a 26-22 score after 10 minutes. Antwerp’s defense bottled up Andorra early in the second quarter and Ibrahima Fall Faye picked up three points in a 7-0 run to go up 33-22 until Perez’s free throws more than 4 minutes into the quarter. Senglin hit a three-pointer, but Dudzinski and Bleijenbergh scored inside and Branch nailed back-to-back triples to increase the margin to 47-31. Andorra came up with a great close to the first half as Hannah hit 2 three-pointers in the final 27 seconds and the guests went into the locker room down 47-37.

That proved to be a big momentum swing and Andorra came out of the half in good form with Perez hitting a layup and Senglin downing a triple to pull within 47-44. Hannah added a triple and David Jelinek’s layup evened things at 49-49. Bleijenbergh got Antwerp back on the scoreboard and Smith followed with a three-pointer as the hosts pushed ahead 54-49. Andorra finished the quarter with the final 5 points and the score was deadlocked 54-54 after 30 minutes. Andorra finally got over the hump and took the lead again on Malick Dime’s first basket to start the final frame. Pauli added 2 free throws after a Branch unsportsmanlike foul to make it 54-58. Antwerp just couldn’t score and Senglin beat the shot clock with a jumper. Charlon Kloof hit an easy layup and the gap was suddenly 54-62 midway through the fourth quarter. A timeout didn’t help and Senglin added another basket and Olumuyiwa had a putback dunk as the lead grew to 54-67. Antwerp finally scored on a free throw by Vincent Kesteloot with 2:35 minutes left and Olumuyiwa added a monster dunk to make it 55-69 and end all hopes of an Antwerp comeback.

Andorra spoils Antwerp's return home

Antwerp was playing its first home game in the competition since January 2008. The loss snapped a four-game home winning streak that dated back more than 12 years.

Pivotal performer

Jeremy Senglin was Mr. All-Around for Andorra with 21 points, including 3 three-pointers, to go with 4 rebounds and 3 assists for an index rating of 24.

Telling numbers

Andorra connected on just 34.3% of its 2-point shots and 34.4% of its 3-pointers but the guests dominated the glass 44-28 including 19 offensive rebounds. Andorra also forced 17 Antwerp turnovers.

Next games

Andorra hosts Virtus Segafredo Bologna in Round 3 on Tuesday, October 13. Antwerp heads back on the road and will be searching for its first EuroCup win of the season when it faces AS Monaco the following evening.