2019-20Regular SeasonRound 11
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade 76
Valencia Basket 73
November 28, 2019 CET: 19:00
Local time: 19:00 ALEKSANDAR NIKOLIC HALL

Zvezda bests Valencia on Brown's buzzer-beater

Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade picked up its second consecutive victory by edging Valencia Basket 76-73 on Thursday night at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in the Serbian capital on the strength of Lorenzo Brown's game-winning buzzer-beating three-pointer. Lorenzo Brown starred even before that and finished with 19 points and 6 assists in leading Zvezda to victory in new head coach Dragan Sakota's first game back on the job. Branko Lazic added 14 points in helping Zvezda lift its record to 4-7. The result also ended Valencia's three-game winning streak and dropped its record to 4-7. Bojan Dubljevic matched his career-high with 22 points for Valencia, Belgrade native Vanja Marinkovic added 11 points and Alberto Abalde scored 10.

Lorenzo Brown delivered a pair of assists and Valencia committed turnovers on its first three possessions as the hosts took control. Belgrade native Marinkovic got Valencia on the scoreboard, but Lorenzo Brown's first basket made it 8-2. Lazic added a three-pointer before issues with the shot clock caused a 45-minute game stop after 4 and a half minutes of gameplay with Zvezda in charge 11-4. The break suited Valencia fine as the visitors regrouped and through Dubljevic and Marinkovic rallied to tie the game at 15-15. Jordan Loyd scored twice in the final minute of the opening quarter to give Valencia its first lead, 17-19. The big guys on both teams traded shots early in the quarter before Charles Jenkins put the hosts back ahead, 26-25. The lead continued to switch hands until Abalde struck from dow town to make it 30-34. Dubljevic and Abalde stretched the margin to 6 before Billy Baron free throws made it 37-41 at the break. Lorenzo Brown dished 3 assists and scored 5 points in an 11-2 start to the second half. Jenkins produced highlights at both ends in a 10-0 run that gave Zvezda the game's first double-digit lead, 58-47. Like in the early going, Marinkovic stepped up for Valencia, but he was less successful in the third quarter, which ended 60-51 in the home team's favor. Valencia came out refocused for the fourth quarter and scored 8 straight points to get within 1. Baron, who was whistled for an unsportsmanlike foul during the Valencia run, made amends by connecting from downtown, however, back-to-back Dubljevic threes pushed Valencia in front, 63-65. Lorenzo Brown kept Zvezda in the game; his layup made it 69-70 with a little less than 3 minutes to go and his free throws tied it at 71-71 with 1:48 to play. On Zvezda's next possession, Ojo put the hosts ahead with free throws. Guillem Vives took on the entire Zvezda defense and came away with a fantastic game-tying layup. The game would come down to the final seconds and Lorenzo Brown rose to the occasion with a step-back three-pointer on the buzzer to win it.

Pivotal performer

Lorenzo Brown was already enjoying one of the best games of his premier EuroLeague season before he hoisted up the game-winning three-pointer on the buzzer. When that went in, it sealed a memorable night for the Zvezda guard, who finished with a personal-best 19 points plus 6 assists for a performance index rating of 21. He was perfect on 5 free throws and shot 4 for 7 on two-pointers and 2 for 4 on threes. Lorenzo Brown scored 10 points in the fourth quarter alone, including 7 in the final 3 minutes.

Dubljevic matches career-high

Valencia big man Bojan Dubljevic has now topped the 20-point mark three times in his career and two of those have been against Crvena Zvezda. He first did so nearly five years ago, in December 2014, with 22 points in Valencia. He also matched a career-best in performance index rating with 29 in this game. He also had a PIR of 29 one week ago in Round 10 against Khimki Moscow Region.

Did you know?

This game was the fifth meeting between the clubs in the EuroLeague and Zvezda is now 5-0 in those games.

What's next?

Both teams will be on the road for Round 12 on Thursday, December 5. Zvezda will take its modest two-game winning streak to Italy to challenge AX Armani Exchange Milan. Valencia visits Spanish League foe Real Madrid.

Lorenzo Brown - Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade - EB19
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: GKONTAS, SPIROS; MANTYLA, PETRI; ZAMOJSKI, JAKUB
Attendance: 6087
By Quarter1234
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade17202316
Valencia Basket19221022
End of Quarter1234
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade17376076
Valencia Basket19415173
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 KUZMIC, OGNJEN 8:27   0/1     1 1 2   2 1 2   1   3
3 COVIC, FILIP 8:16               1             1
4 BROWN, LORENZO 26:04 19 4/7 2/4 5/5   3 3 6   3     3 4 21
7 DAVIDOVAC, DEJAN 3:17   0/1     1   1     1         -1
10 LAZIC, BRANKO 26:14 14 4/7 2/4   1 2 3   1 1     3 3 12
11 FAYE, MOUHAMMAD 19:56 4 2/3 0/2   3 5 8 2   2 1   3   7
12 BARON, BILLY 26:51 8   2/4 2/2   3 3 2   2     4 2 7
13 DOBRIC, OGNJEN 13:46 3 0/2 1/2         2 2 2       1 3
15 GIST, JAMES 20:53 6 2/6   2/4   2 2 1 1 1     3 3 3
22 JENKINS, CHARLES 15:32 9 3/3 0/2 3/3   3 3 2 2 1     3 2 12
28 SIMANIC, BORISA 13:23 4 2/2 0/1         1     1   2   3
50 OJO, MICHAEL 17:21 9 2/2   5/5           2     3 4 8
Team             2 2               2
Totals 200:00 76 19/34 7/19 17/19 6 21 27 17 8 16 4 0 25 19 81
        55.9% 36.8% 89.5%
Head coach: SAKOTA, DRAGAN
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
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 12:52   0/3       3 3 3 1 3       1 2
2 MARINKOVIC, VANJA 13:54 11 3/5 1/3 2/4       1   4   1 1 2 2
3 LOYD, JORDAN 14:40 6 3/3 0/1         2 1 1     4 1 4
5 NDOUR, MAURICE 12:00 9 3/6   3/4   1 1 1 1     2 2 3 7
6 ABALDE, ALBERTO 25:48 10 1/3 1/2 5/6 2 2 4 1 1       3 3 12
7 LABEYRIE, LOUIS 28:00 4 0/2   4/4   5 5   2     1 1 5 12
10 TOBEY, MIKE 10:15 4 2/3 0/1     2 2   1       3   2
12 MOTUM, BROCK DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 DUBLJEVIC, BOJAN 29:45 22 2/4 4/7 6/6 4 4 8 3 1 2     2 4 29
16 VIVES, GUILLEM 27:08 4 1/3 0/3 2/2 1 1 2 3 4 4     1 4 7
19 SAN EMETERIO, FERNANDO 14:12     0/1             1     1 1 -2
42 DOORNEKAMP, AARON 11:26 3 1/1 0/2 1/2   3 3           1 1 3
Team           4   4               4
Totals 200:00 73 16/33 6/20 23/28 11 21 32 14 12 15 0 4 19 25 82
        48.5% 30% 82.1%
Head coach: PONSARNAU, JAUME

Head Coaches

SAKOTA, DRAGAN
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
"I believe that was a nice game to watch and the best way to finish is with the last shot. It was a very strange game because we started very good, but after this [45-minute] break, I think the situation changed. We lost our rhythm. In the second half, we started again with good pressure, with everything we agreed. But our rotation is not as [deep] as Valencia's, so we couldn't keep this rhythm for all 40 minutes to save the game before the end. But I will not complain. We tried to keep very strong pressure on their passing because they have a dangerous inside-outside game. You don't know if Dubljevic will go inside or outside. So we had to keep this pressure to reduce this situation. We made a couple of mistakes, but this is normal in a game. In the end, we were brave to change the game and this is very important."
PONSARNAU, JAUME
Valencia Basket
"Tough game. Both teams had chances to take the win and had good moments in the game. I think our defense was good on the last play. We contested the shot and I cannot complain about our last defense. I would complain more about our last offense."

Players

LAZIC, BRANKO
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
"We got a little bit distracted because of that [first-quarter] break, but in the second half, especially in the third quarter, we started playing our game with pressure and that gave us good offense and easy points. In the fourth quarter, we lost our energy and everything but the most important thing is that we fought until the end and we deserved this win. Every victory is important, especially this one in a tight game that we won on the last shot. Many games we had a shot to win on the last shot and we missed, but tonight we made it."
BROWN, LORENZO
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
"I was just trying to get the last shot, honestly. We had the ball in our hands and we just tried to make something happen and the ball went in for me. It was a great screen by James [Gist] at the top, but their guy played some great defense. I ended up getting a good look at the rim and I made it. I’m pleased with the way everybody played tonight. We played hard. We’ve been fighting all season and we’ll try to continue to do that."
DUBLJEVIC, BOJAN
Valencia Basket
"We played in one of the toughest courts in EuroLeague, but we fought hard and we didn’t have luck in the last few seconds. We need to keep our heads up because we are in a good way. We need to stay positive, keep our confidence and day by day we will get better."