2019-20Regular SeasonRound 14
December 17, 2019 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 LA FONTETA

Valencia thrashes Baskonia

Valencia Basket recorded its second consecutive win by downing KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 105-77 at La Fonteta on Tuesday. Both teams now have a 6-8 record in the standings. Bojan Dubljevic led the winners with a career-high 25 points. Alberto Abalde added 16, Jordan Loyd and Sam Van Rossom each scored 13 and Mike Tobey 10 for Valencia. Shavon Shields paced Baskonia with 22 points, Toko Shengelia added 15 and Luca Vildoza 12 for the visitors. Dubljevic was unstoppable in the second quarter and got help from Abalde and Van Rossom to make it a double-digit game, 46-36, at halftime. Dubljevic and Abalde kept pacing Valencia after the break, but Shields kept Baskonia within 69-58 after 30 minutes. Little changed after that, as Valencia kept a safe margin throughout the fourth quarter.

Quino Colom hit a triple and found Dubljevic for another bomb from downtown that gave Valencia a 6-2 lead. Dubljevic hit a jump hook, but Nik Stauskas and Shengelia fueled a 0-6 run which Henry capped with a jumper to tie it at 8-8. Dubljevic and Shengelia traded layups and then Vildoza struck from beyond the arc to give Baskonia its first lead, 10-13. Youssoupha Fall scored down low, Shengelia finished a broken play with a layup and Henry added a big basket in transition that caused Valencia to call timeout at 12-19. Tobey hit a jumper and Loyd added a fast break layup and a buzzer-beating three-pointer that tied the game again, 19-19, after 10 minutes. Louis Labyerie and Van Rossom each hit a triple early in the second quarter, capping a 13-0 run that gave Valencia a 25-19 lead. Shengelia answered from downtown and soon added a reverse layup to bring Baskonia within 27-26. Van Rossom scored in transition and Abalde banked in a close shot to give Valencia fresh air at 31-26. Dubljevic took over with a three-point play and drew a couple of shooting fouls, allowing the hosts to get a 37-30 lead. Vildoza followed a turnaround jumper with a driving layup, but Dubljevic and Abalde each struck from downtown, giving Valencia a 46-36 advantage at halftime.

Dubljevic and Vildoza traded three-pointers right after the break. Then San Emeterio boosted Valencia's lead to 51-40. Maurice Ndour ignited the crowd with an alley-oop dunk and Van Rossom buried a corner triple that broke the game open, 58-42. Ilimane Diop downed a jumper and then Shields added 8 quick points, including a couple of triples, to bring Baskonia within 63-52. Tobey stepped up with a put-back slam that a red-hot Shields bettered with a bomb from downtown. Abalde and Achille Polonara joined the three-point shootout to fix the score at 69-58 after 30 minutes. Tobey found a layup-plus-foul early in the fourth quarter and Loyd added a big triple that set a 75-60 Valencia lead. Abalde scored in penetration, but Henry and Shields fueled a 1-8 run highlighted by Polonara's put-back dunk. A three-point play by Shields brought Baskonia within single digits, 80-71, with over 6 minutes left. Abalde, Dubljevic, Van Rossom and Loyd buried a three-pointer apiece to keep the hosts out of trouble, 92-73, and Baskonia never recovered.

Pivotal performer

Abalde had a fantastic game off the bench at both ends of the floor. He finished the game with 16 points on 2-of-4 two-point shooting, 3-of-4 from downtown and 3-of-3 free throws, plus 2 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and 3 fouls drawn for a PIR of 20.

Game-changing moment

Valencia trailed 12-19 late in the first quarter but fixed its offense through its second unit. Loyd - from way downtown at the first-quarter buzzer - Labeyrie and Van Rossom each struck from downtown in a 13-0 run that put Valencia ahead for good, 25-19. Baskonia never regained momentum in the game.

Stellar stat

Valencia took much better care of the ball, dishing 27 assists and committing just 6 turnovers. That is an assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.5-to-1 is the second-best in the EuroLeague this season - Anadolu Efes Istanbul had a ratio of 4.67 against ALBA Berlin with 28 assists and 6 turnovers. Baskonia had only 10 assists and made 16 turnovers.

Did you notice?

Valencia set a new club record for most three-point shots made, 17, against Baskonia in this game. The previous record was 16 against Zenit St Petersburg earlier this season. It also tied the best mark for a EuroLeague team this season - Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow and Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv previously hit 17 three-point shots in the 2019-20 campaign.

Next game

Both teams return to EuroLeague action on Thursday, December 19. Valencia visits AX Armani Exchange Milan, while Baskonia hosts Real Madrid.

Bojan Dubljevic - Valencia Basket - EB19
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: JOVCIC, MILIVOJE; JAVOR, DAMIR; BAUMANIS, INGUS
Attendance: 7697
By Quarter1234
Valencia Basket19272336
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz19172219
End of Quarter1234
Valencia Basket194669105
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz19365877
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 17:34 5 0/2 1/2 2/2 1   1 6 1 1     2 2 9
2 MARINKOVIC, VANJA 18:44 6 1/1 1/4 1/2   1 1 1 1       1 1 5
3 LOYD, JORDAN 23:13 13 2/4 3/7 0/2   3 3 4   1   1 1 5 14
5 NDOUR, MAURICE 12:34 8 3/5   2/2 1 2 3 1 2       3 2 11
6 ABALDE, ALBERTO 24:22 16 2/4 3/4 3/3   2 2 2 1     1   3 20
7 LABEYRIE, LOUIS 24:11 5 1/1 1/2     4 4 2 1       1   10
9 VAN ROSSOM, SAM 19:50 13 1/1 3/6 2/2 1 1 2 5       1   2 18
10 TOBEY, MIKE 15:59 10 4/6 0/1 2/3 1 2 3 1 1     1 4 2 8
12 MOTUM, BROCK DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 DUBLJEVIC, BOJAN 24:01 25 3/5 5/8 4/5 3 2 5 2 1 3   1 2 4 25
19 SAN EMETERIO, FERNANDO 14:25 4 1/2 0/2 2/2 1   1 2   1       3 6
42 DOORNEKAMP, AARON 5:07   0/1 0/1     1 1 1         2   -2
Team           3 4 7               7
Totals 200:00 105 18/32 17/37 18/23 11 22 33 27 8 6 0 5 16 24 131
        56.3% 45.9% 78.3%
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
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 VILDOZA, LUCA 26:49 12 3/4 2/4     1 1 2   3 1   4 1 7
5 GONZALEZ, MIGUEL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 HENRY, PIERRIA 29:47 9 2/3 1/3 2/2   4 4 5 1 1     2 3 16
11 JANNING, MATT 11:51   0/2 0/1     2 2           1 1 -1
12 DIOP, ILIMANE 14:32 2 1/1     2   2     2     4 1 -1
17 GARCIA, SERGI 2:44   0/1               2     1   -4
19 FALL, YOUSSOUPHA 11:37 2 1/3     2   2     1     1    
22 STAUSKAS, NIK 23:15 8 4/8 0/1   1 2 3 1         3   4
23 SHENGELIA, TORNIKE 24:12 15 6/8 1/3   2 6 8   1 4     5 5 16
31 SHIELDS, SHAVON 25:34 22 5/9 3/5 3/4 2 5 7 1   2 2   1 3 25
33 POLONARA, ACHILLE 15:51 7 2/4 1/5   3 1 4 1 1       1 1 7
50 ERIC, MICHAEL 13:48   0/3   0/2 2 2 4     1 2   2 1 -1
Team           1 1 2               2
Totals 200:00 77 24/46 8/22 5/8 15 24 39 10 3 16 5 0 25 16 70
        52.2% 36.4% 62.5%
Head coach: PERASOVIC, VELIMIR

Head Coaches

PONSARNAU, JAUME
Valencia Basket
"We played a great game with a great atmosphere, with great intensity, against a great opponent and at home. I think that our willingness and capacity to fight for every ball, to match their intensity, to learn their sets during the game, to share the ball - 27 assists, to fight for every situation, makes us very happy. We think we played a very good game. Baskonia is a very uncomfortable team to play against. They managed to make their opponents' stats go down a lot because they are aggressive, know how to collapse and have a great ability to play one-on-one defense, not allowing it to be out of balance. We understood and read, in key moments, which type of defense they were using on direct screens and how to share the ball. Once we found an advantage, we had enough patience to find a good shot and they went in - those 17 three-point shots we made is a good reference. We are very happy to live this day all together. The bad thing is that the day is over and we have to look for the next game, the next challenge. If you take out the opening 5 minutes, in which our defense was wrong, I believe it was our most complete game of the season. We had our ability to learn during the game and that broke their dynamism. They are a very dynamic team with a similar philosophy to ours, in that sense. In the end, their offenses finished in one-on-one situations in which a player had to create his own shot. That gives us credit as a team, how we worked together and how much sacrifices each player made, individually."
PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"First of all, congratulations to Valencia. They deserved this victory because they played tough and focused from the beginning to the end. I think we started good, but had a lot of mistakes in the final minutes of the first quarter and after that we were always behind Valencia. I think the last quarter was a disaster because we gave up without force, without energy. We didn't play smart, especially in the last 4 minutes. I think that the team played well early in the game and was focused, but when we were clearly behind in the scoreboard, we rushed things and played without any concentration. In the last quarter, when we got within 9 points, we were not very smart, shooting quickly and without playing defense. In that moment, losing Toko [to 5 fouls] was important because we didn't have a clear reference and our offenses were a bit individualistic. And Valencia, especially in the last 3-4 minutes, punished us excessively. I don't think the final score reflects the game but in the end, we have to learn from these kinds of losses." 0:03

Players

VAN ROSSOM, SAM
Valencia Basket
"I think the reaction came in the first quarter, in a moment when we were down 7 points. We took a timeout and talked about being more aggressive and that the loose balls had to be ours. From that moment, we changed the pace of the game altogether. Everybody who stepped on the court were on the same page and it was a great victory today. Right now, we are in a better moment and the team is playing pretty well. We have to enjoy this victory today, but there is another game on Thursday, so tomorrow we have to go back to work and prepare the game against Milan."
DUBLJEVIC, BOJAN
Valencia Basket
"I think that what's most important is that we won the game at home. We had a really, really good game. We were really good on offense and improved a lot. We are growing up, but we don't have much time to celebrate because we go to Milan tomorrow and have a game in two days. It is going to be really tough because you don't have too much time to prepare the game and it is a road game, but we need to play like today, I hope, and try to win that game, too."
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