Murcia, Oct 9 (EFE).- Covirán Granada, to the sound of Brazilian center Cristiano Felicio scoring in the rival zone -22 points and 8 rebounds-, won 82-89 at the UCAM Murcia Club Baloncesto court in a game that they have almost always dominated and in which they have been more compact as a team to reach two wins in three days, a good background for a recently promoted player who has won both of their away games.
Each team arrived at the meeting with a loss due to injury – that of the local James Anderson, who has been known this week that he will be between a month and a month and a half without competing and that of the visitor Dejan Todorovic, who has not yet debuted in the season- and with both teams having won one game and lost another at the start of the league.
The start of the clash was even (11-12) and with Felicio already doing damage in the zone with seven points and Thomas Bropleh from outside with five.
David Jelínek, with three almost consecutive three-pointers in his first three attempts, kept Murcia ahead (17-16), but Covirán finished the fourth better and endorsed their rival with a 0-9 run that made them send by eight points (17-25), which finally were six when reaching the first forced break of the morning with a basket by Thad McFadden (19-25).
Sito Alonso’s team, with too many mistakes – they started the championship with the worst percentage in the two-point shot with just 44% success -, moved on impulse and their opponent showed more poise and security.
Juan Pablo Pin’s men, for their part, continued to see the rim with ease, especially Petit Niang, and thus reached their maximum advantage at 22-31.
McFadden, in a great moment, stopped the bloodletting and the granas, hardening the defense, were at two (31-33) with the American with a Georgian passport already at 10 points.
The coach from Granada called his players to his side and, after the timeout, the Andalusians got back on track with Alex Renfroe scoring and generating play for his teammates and with Felicio imposing his strength and reaching 15 points in two quarters.
UCAM CB responded with the individual talent of Travis Trice, but the visitors, with a three-pointer at the buzzer and on the board by Lluis Costa, left with a seven-point lead at halftime (40-47).
In the resumption the Murcians resumed control quite some time later. An 8-0 start, including a triple by an active Nemanja Radovic and finished off with the third converted by McFadden, turned the score around and led Pin to stop the game with two and a half minutes of play in the third quarter.
The alternatives followed one another from then on with a 3+1 from Trice that put UCAM CB four up (55-51) but also with an inspired Lluis Costa and Luke Maye hitting baskets of maximum value (57-58).
In the last ten minutes, after too many failures on the part of both attacks, the two teams separated by three goals stood up, with Covirán again ahead but with everything to decide (60-63).
The 0-5 partial with which the third quarter ended was added another 0-4 for those from the capital of the Alhambra, with which the Nasrid team put the direct.
In fact, they went on to win 63-71 with seven minutes to play, an important difference but by no means definitive with so much time ahead of them.
The university team, defending and running, got back into the match full just two minutes later (73-74), but a couple of visitor baskets, including a triple by Felicio put things more or less as they were shortly before (73 -79).
Felicio, without a doubt the man of the match, continued to appear with free throws and rebounds in a tight game ending and Covirán played with the anxiety of his opponent to end up winning with solvency.
82. UCAM Murcia Basketball Club (19+21+20+22): Trice (11), Davis (13), Jelínek (9), Radovic (20) and Pustovyi (1) -initial five-, Luther (-), Bellas (3), McFadden (16), Sakho (2), Diop (7) and Rojas (-).
89. Covirán Granada (25+22+16+26): Renfroe (10), Prince Ali (2), Bropleh (5), Maye (11) and Felicio (22) -initial five-, Niang (9), Christian Díaz (9), Lluis Costa (15), Pere Tomàs (6), Iriarte (-) and Jacobo Díaz (-).
Referees: Jordi Aliaga Solé, Raúl Zamorano Sánchez and Cristóbal Sánchez Cutillas. Without eliminated.
Incidents: Match corresponding to the third day of the Endesa Basketball League that was played at the Palacio de los Deportes de Murcia before 5,464 spectators.
(c) EFE Agency