Valencia takes care of Spirou, moves to 5-0

Valencia Basket remained undefeated atop of Group C with a great defensive effort in a comfortable 49-65 road win at Proximus Spirou Charleroi on Wednesday. Despite playing without Bojan Dubljevic, Valencia improved to 5-0, while Spirou dropped to 0-5. Valencia held the hosts below 30% shooting for both two points and three points, while forcing them into 19 turnovers. Justin Hamilton led Valencia with 17 points and 6 rebounds, while Sam Van Tossom netted 14. Billy Baron scored 14 for the hosts. Jordan Heath had 13 and Jimmy Baron 11 for Spirou, while Kevin Tumba pulled down 12 rebounds in defeat.

Billy Baron and Jordan Heath knocked down triples to give Spirou a fast start to the game, and after Hamilton scored twice inside for Valencia, Heath made it 8-5 after 4 minutes. But Vladimir Lucic sparked a run 0-13 for Valencia during which Jon Stefansson hit from downtown and Hamilton scored a total of 8 points, making it 8-18. Billy Baron and Loic Schwartz each hit a triple late in the first quarter, cutting it to 14-20 after 10 minutes, but Jordi Trias had five points in a 0-7 run to open second quarter, 14-26. However, Jimmy Baron also hit from behind the arc for Spirou, and Tumba added a put-back. Tumba and Luke Sikma traded baskets, before Jimmy Baron and Billy Baron cut it to 28-33 at halftime.

Valencia had a strong opening of the third period defensively, not allowing a field goal for almost 6 minutes. Meanwhile, Guillem Vives and Stefansson each hit a three-pointer, and with contribution from Lucic the visitors opened 29-43 lead. Billy Baron ended the drought, and a 1-10 run, with a three-pointer, but Hamilton kept Valencia with a double-digit lead. Spirou did cut it to 38-47 going into the fourth quarter, but Sam Van Rossom hit three three-pointers to open the final quarter, extending the margin to 40-58 with 5 minutes to go. That put an end to Spirou’s hopes, as margin broke 20-point barrier, 42-62, with little over 2 minutes left in the contest.