Long-range masterclass lifts ALBA to road win in Bilbao

A three-point shooting barrage gave ALBA Berlin an 86-94 road victory over RETAbet Bilbao, who launched several comeback attempts but couldn’t quite find the offense to match ALBA’s long-range prowess. By the end of the third quarter ALBA had converted 12 of 18 attempts from downtown, and although that percentage eventually dropped it was enough to establish a lead the hosts could not challenge, as ALBA improves to 4-1 and RETAbet drops to 1-4. It was a real team effort for the winners, with no less than seven players scoring in double figures. They were led by 15 points from Peyton Siva, who also dished 7 assists, while Luka Sikma combined 11 points with 7 rebounds. ALBA also dominated the boards, winning the rebounding battle 25-39 as eight players grabbed at least two boards. RETAbet was paced by 20 points from Lucio Redivo, while Alex Mumbru added 12 on 4 of 6 three-point shooting.

Defenses were on top in the early exchanges but ALBA slowly moved into a 6-12 lead before a pair of triples from Redivo tied it up, and another three – this time from Mumbru – sent RETAbet ahead. Stefan Peno came off the bench to score at the rim for ALBA, but Redivo struck from downtown again and it was 18-18 after the first quarter. Consecutive corner threes from Joshiko Saibou sent ALBA ahead midway through the second, and Siva also struck twice from downtown to make it 31-38. Sikma’s basket plus one and a fastbreak slam from Peno briefly made it a ten-point game, and although Mickell Gladness responded with a three-point play ALBA struck from downtown again as Marius Grigonis beat the half-time buzzer to make it 42-52. Another triple from Mumbru sparked a 12-2 run for RETAbet at the start of the third quarter, and then a three-point play from Pere Tomas levelled the score at 60-60. ALBA responded with a 0-7 run including two baskets from Bogdan Radosavljevic to go back ahead, and three triples in quick succession from Spencer Butterfield made it 70-77 at the end of the third. Two more triples, this time from Akeem Vargas, helped extend ALBA’s lead to 74-85, but the hosts again rallied with a 7-0 run to stay in contention. A tough lay-up from Sikma gave the visitors some breathing space, and a combination of strong defense and offensive rebounds allowed ALBA to see out the remaining time and claim the win.