Baxi Manresa leaves Breoghan with no options
Baxi Manresa left Rio Breogan no choice (83-68) in a game that was dominated from start to finish by the Catalans with a flawless performance from Branco Badio with 18 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
Both teams started the game very chaotically in simple ball situations. For the Catalans, Branco Badio managed to score only in the first three minutes, and for the Galicians, it was Stefan Momirov who provided his team with points from long range (4-5, min. 3).
The success on both ends of the court didn’t improve much, especially from the outside, so both coaches decided to tilt the board toward the inside game.
That’s when local Martinas Geben and guest Juan Fernandez burst onto the court and scored the final points of a very tense first quarter (15-12, min. 10).
Baxi Manresa made an attempt to get on the scoreboard early in the second period with some positive moves from Devin Robinson (19-14, min 13), but Rio Breogan stayed in the fight thanks to good work from Momirov from the three.
After Martynas Sajus’ goal for Lugo, Baksi went straight into the attack with a 5:0 score led by Marcin Steinbergs (26-20, min. 15), which led to Veljko Mršić’s time-out.
The break did little to improve the visitors’ situation and the Bages residents took the opportunity to continue to add insult to injury with an impressive strike. Branco Badio, who starred in two consecutive actions that ended with two dunks that brought the whole Nou Congost to their feet (38-23, min. 18).
Despite a superb local quarter, two last-second baskets by Mario Nakic and Sergi Quintela allowed Rio Breogán to reduce the deficit to 12 at the break (40-28, min. 20).
On restart Badio continued to infuse the game with inspiration and set an instant maximum for his team (44-30, min. 23).
The Galicians did not improve in the following minutes and Baxi Manresa managed to increase the difference and brought Congosta into the middle with another three from Steinbergs (50-35, min. 25).
But, as before the break, Mrsic’s team, scoring two goals in a row from Ben McLemore and Jordan Sakho, came back to within 11 points in the last ten minutes before the end of the game (62-51, min. 30).
Once again Baxi Manresa took the lead with the intractable Badio. who scored points from all sides of the court to give his best in the blink of an eye and leave the guests very touched (72-55, min. 33).
Devin Robinson’s basket put the team within 20 points. and finish the match with Rio Breoghan, who has already completely thrown in the towel (83-62, min. 37).
Finally, Baxi Manresa closed out an 83-68 victory over Lugo’s team, adding their eleventh win of the season in the Endesa League and remaining in the group of teams that will compete for a place in the playoffs.