Marcus Howard was… Steph Curry and having 7/10 three-pointers and 32 points, led Baskonia to a great double in Belgrade with a 91-90 win over Red Star.
Raining threes and up to +12 for the Red Star
With threes raining down at the beginning and Howard being the shooter twice, Baskonia led 5-8, but the hosts responded in the same way with Dos Santos and Lazic going on an 11-0 run to make it 16-8. Rogavopoulos scored his first basket to close the gap to 16-13, but Lazic and Davidovic scored from long distance to make it 26-16, and the +10 was maintained at the end of the first quarter (30-20).
The Red Star kept the lead and with Smart’s first points made it 35-25. Rogavopoulos was hot from 6.75 (35-28), as was Smart (45-36), with Giannis Sfairopoulos’ team going on another run. They built a 7-0 run with Giedraitis and Bolomboy to make it 52-40, before Marinkovic made it 52-43 at halftime, in which Star had 8/15 3-pointers and Baskonia 9/18.
Howard on fire, the hosts touched the upset
The third period started just like the first. With 2/2 threes again Howard closed the gap to 52-49 and shortly after Moneke tied the game (54-54). Howard continued to plague the home team’s defense and with his sixth three-pointer (23p. in 12′ and 17p. in the third quarter) he put Baskonia ahead 62-66, while another three-point bomb by Marinkovic made it 62-69 at the end of the third quarter.
With Howard’s confidence soaring, as well as his shooting from 6.75m, it was 63-74, Marinkovic also made it 65-77, but Dos Santos woke up to bring his team closer to 74-80 (35′). Again, Howard pulled his team away (78-84), but the combinations of Giedratis and Mitrovic brought his team within striking distance and within 83-84 at 38′.
And just when the ball was… on fire, who else took over? Howard scored two identical baskets of his own to make it 83-88 with 55 seconds to go, but Dos Santos scored four straight points and great defense by Lazic to cut it to 87-88 with 14 seconds left. McIntyre had 1/2 free throws, but Moneke won the offensive rebound and Marinkovic made 2/2 free throws to seal the win for his team, as Dos Santos hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 90-91.
The quarters: 30-20, 52-43, 62-69, 90-91
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