Defeat contested

The team fought from the first to the last minute in the premiere in Fontajau

| Sunday, 18 October 2020

Bàsquet Girona opened the season in LEB Or with a defeat against HLA Alicante in Fontajau (77-83). The team from Girona showed their face at all times in the game against one of the strongest teams in the category. The incidence of Gerard Sevillano in attack and the imbalance of Álex Llorca (16 rating each) have laid the foundations for an optimistic performance by the team.

The match started very energetically, with both teams in the first positions. The balance was maintained until the Alicante players placed the first distances on the scoreboard, with Llompart leading the first scores (6-14). The opposing team has been more effective in shooting while closing the defense better. The Girona team has changed the dynamic with the same medicine: flexibility in defense and attack. In sensations in the game and on the scoreboard, the team has grown to the disadvantage of six points at the end of the first ten minutes (17-23).

The tone with which he had finished continued in the second period. With effort and collective spirit, the team has become great inside and outside on the rival court and in the rear has remained more and more solid. Adding to the good staging was the individual talent of Álex Llorca (7 points, 4 fouls received and 15 points) that broke up the static attacks. A basket by Gerard Sevillano put the team ahead from the second position (40-39) but a triple by Pitts (12 points in the second quarter) put the Alicante team ahead (42-44).

The resumption started coldly in terms of scoring: the first basket in the game arrived in the two and a half minutes. Alicante struck first, resuming the difference of seven points (46-51), but the Girona team did not lose face in the game and, from the defense, recovered the good dynamic of the game, reaching the last minute with flip bookmark options. However, a recovery and subsequent three-pointer from the middle of the field by Pitts ended a positive ending before the last period (58-63).

In the fourth quarter there were two draws, the first in a counterattack concluded by Gerard Sevillano (70-70) and the second after a triple by Pep Busquets (74-74). Although the Alicante team have always found a comeback, the Girona side have not given up (Sabbat’s triple that left 77-79). However, in a last head-to-head, the rival team took the first victory in the debut in the LEB Or in Fontajau (77-83).

Statements by Carlos Marco:

“Alicante was just the winner because it dominated us in the rhythm. We did a bad staging, with little intensity, different from what we were used to.   It was also true that it was the first game in many ways: we had a lot of desire and we didn’t focus it in the most appropriate way. We went wrong with mistakes in things we had trained. This match, therefore, should serve us to return to work tomorrow with the will to compete better and have more options to win in Mallorca.”