Valencia Basket dominates Umana Venice to remain unbeaten

Valencia Basket dominated Umana Reyer Venice 88-59 on Tuesday to remain undefeated in Group C. The hosts never trailed in becoming the first team in the competition to rack up four wins. Rafa Martinez made 4 of 6n threes and scored 16 points and Bojan Dubljevic netted 15 points for the winners. Justin Hamilton added 12, Vladimir Lucic 11 and Guillem Vives dished 9 assists for Valencia, for whom every player scored a basket. The real story for Valencia was its defense, which held Venice to just 27 second half points, which was what it scored in the fourth quarter alone. Philip Goss scored 14 and Jeff Viggiano 11 for Venice, which dropped to 2-2.

Little separated the sides early as Josh Owens brought Venice within 9-8 after four minutes. A Martinez triple and Hamilton jumper gave the hosts a 6-point lead. A second Martinez triple extended the lead to 7 and Valencia held off all Venice advances the rest of the quarter to finish it ahead 23-16. Goss opened the second quarter with a three as Venice closed the gap, but Valencia refused to let the visitors get closer than 4. A Sam Van Rossom triple keyed a 7-0 surge as Valencia took its first double-digit lead late in the half. Jarrius Jackson’s three-pointer made it 40-32 at halftime.

Luke Sikma starred in a 7-0 start to the second half, in which Martinez also tripled for a 15-point advantage. Goss drilled a three and Hrvoje Peric closed the deficit to 10, but Hamilton, Sikma and Dublejvic each hit free throws in an 8-0 spurt for a 59-41 cushion. Michele Ruzzier’s basket brought the visitors within 61-45 through three quarters. After Lucic’s basket-plus-foul, Jon Stefansson gave Valencia its first 20-point lead. The difference peaked at 88-57 in the next-to-last minute as Valencia cruised to another big win.