Zvezda's late 0-17 run sinks host Valencia

Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade rallied from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit on the road to down Valencia Basket 82-86 on Friday. It was the third consecutive win for Zvezda, whose record climbed to 5-7, while Valencia's dropped to 3-9 with its eighth straight defeat. It was a game with rollercoaster swings, with Zvezda building an 11-point lead in the first half, then Valencia rallying for a 13-point margin in the fourth quarter. But James Feldeine and Pero Antic fueled a 0-17 run that got Zvezda back in front, and the visitors made more plays in the final minute to celebrate a win. Feldeine scored 14 of his 26 points in the last 5 minutes of the game, and he also dished 5 assists. Taylor Rochestie finished with 13, and Pero Antic scored 10 points and had 4 steals in victory. Fernando San Emeterio netted 17 points for Valencia. Tibor Pleiss collected 13 points plus 7 rebounds, Alberto Abalde scored 12, and Erick Green had 10 points for the hosts. Bojan Dubljevic pulled down 10 rebounds in the losing effort.

The teams traded buckets in the early going, with Nemanja Dangubic and Green hitting jumpers before Will Thomas downed a corner triple for the hosts' 7-4 lead. But Rochestie scored 7 points, including a triple, that put Zvezda in front 9-15. Sam Van Rossom snapped a 0-9 Zvezda run with a three-pointer, but Dangubic hit a long jumper and Antic added a three-pointer as the visitors stayed ahead 22-26 after 10 minutes. Zvezda scored the first 7 points of the second quarter, with 6 of those coming from the foul line, to open a 22-33 lead. The visitors controlled the boards, as Valencia had just 1 defensive rebound in the first 12 minutes of the contest. Pleiss ended the hosts' field-goal drought with a jumper and had a tip-in, as well, but Dangubic hit a corner triple that restored an 11-point margin before Valencia scored last 9 points of the half, cutting the difference to 38-40 at halftime.

Thomas opened the third quarter with a triple, and Green hit a short jumper, giving the hosts the lead. Zvezda was held without a field goal for almost 6 minutes before Matthias Lessort made a three-point play. Back-to-back dunks by Pleiss gave put Valencia ahead 51-47. Dejan Davidovac hit a triple for Zvezda and Lessort’s dunk tied it again at 52-52. After San Emeterio and Feldeine traded runners, Abalde hit from long range, and before the end of the quarter San Emeterio scored twice in the low post to help Valencia to a 63-56 lead going into the final quarter. Pleiss had a put-back, Abalde added a baseline jumper, and San Emeterio a corner three in transition to help make it 72-59, the game's biggest lead. Zvezda got a lifeline with Antic's steal and a fastbreak dunk, followed by a Davidovac's corner three-pointer. After a pair of easy layups by Feldeine, Antic knocked down a corner triple, too, forcing a 72-72 tie with 3:35 to go. As Zvezda kept getting defensive stands, Feldeine knocked down 4 of 4 free throws to make it 72-76. Van Rossom's fastbreak layup snapped Zvezda's 0-17 run and San Emeterio nailed a transition triple that put Valencia back in front, 77-76 with 69 seconds to go. But Rochestie, who spent most of the fourth quarter on the bench, came in to make a baseline floater. Then Zvezda made two defensive stands, and in the final 43 seconds Feldeine and Rochestie made 8 of 8 from the free throw line to preserve the lead and bring the victory back to Belgrade.