The first win of the year at home

The senior will be in the second phase of LEB Plata after celebrating the first victory of the year in Fontajau

| Sunday, 20 January 2019

Básquet Girona achieved its first home victory of the year after overcoming a stalemate and winning in the second half. Quim Costa’s men completed a positive choral performance in the absence of Jordi Trias due to illness. With this victory, added to the defeat of Aceitunas Fragata Morón, the senior mathematically certifies his participation in the promotion phase to LEB Or.

The team from Girona started with concentration aware that a good attitude would help to forget the striking absence of Trias. Hitting the first three attacks in a row, Quim Costa’s team offered their most collective version to face a La Roda that did not lose track of the locals under the direction of Uchenna.

In the second quarter, a 0-7 run re-established the balance after the Girona left with a five-point lead. Then, Costa would give entrance to the second unit, in which the returns of Eduard Ramos and Pau Juscafresa stood out. In this section, the mishap would transcend the good collective work of the group, with long possessions without forcing the opponent to foul – La Roda only committed a single foul in the entire second quarter – and with Berry scoring beyond the line of 6’75

After an irregular first part, the senior would fatten the offensive machinery in the second starting from the two Americans. With Berry imposing in the paint (top scorer with 16 points) and Bolton from the outside shot (8 points out of 10 in the third quarter), Básquet Girona would begin to open the first cracks in the scoreboard (47-40, 26 ‘). However, in defense he could not find a way to stop the physicality of Kougnia and the versatility of Adon. In the last stretch of the period, the individuality of Nil Angelats (14 points) and Sergi Costa (20 points) would emerge to stop the rival’s attempts to respond.

The last quarter would be started by a triple from La Roda which was matched by two from Angelats and Sergi Costa. Básquet Girona was determined to decide the match and little by little the differences widened, despite Bolton’s fifth foul before the equalizer that left his team in the bonus. La Roda tried to mitigate its inferiority on the scoreboard from the counterattack, but Quim Costa’s men had already taken the size of the opponent while they did not falter in their attacking proposal.

The next senior meeting will be on Saturday, January 26 at 6:15 p.m  at the Polideportivo Municipal La Paz in Azuqueca de Henares.

*Quim Costa’s assessment

“It was a game in which we always dominated but never in a clear way. With advantages of five or six points but without ever managing to break the game completely”

“The uncertainty of the players in the shot is an aspect that needs to be improved. In some cases, there is a player who is capable of shooting and does not do it, and in others, he ends up shooting from an awkward position. We have a young squad and that’s one reason, but it’s also harder for us to play fluently at home than away.”

“The victory has double merit because we had a week of flu and ended it with Jordi’s layoff for this reason”

“The balance is very positive because when the competition started we didn’t quite know how everything would go for being a new and young group. So far we’ve had both good times, like the dynamics at the beginning, and bad times, with the negative streak of November. Now it will be our turn to face a decisive stage because three of the four results that remain will be dragged into the next phase”

Statistics

PHOTO: Sergi Geronès