By Melody Gross )
Lies continues to lead the league on a journey, in Ovarense, only the final whistle decided who would be the winner of the exciting confrontation between Ovarense and V.I. Guimarães
As expected, after FC Porto temporarily took the lead in the Betclic League following Friday's victory over Bovoa 97-81 at the start of the twelfth round of the regular stage, Sporting had no difficulties in moving to Madeira and beat newcomer Galomar 71-89. . (14-30, 27-22, 17-15, 13-22).
A clash that became lopsided in the first quarter, as the Lions stunned the locals for 4 minutes (0-15) allowing them to build a 16-man advantage (14-30) and Pedro Nuno Montero's desire to equalize made it easier to start rotating the bench early and unleash reinforcements on Marvin Clark Jr. – who came in to replace the fired Ken Horton – who ended up being used for 23 meters as he scored 12 points (with 4/7 on threes), 5 accuracy and 2 donkeys.
Without feeling any threat to control the match, the Lisbon team, which led by 19 points, had its best players Eddie Ekior (24), Ronald Curry (20 points, 5 minutes, 3 defenders) and Mike Moore (13 points, 3 minutes). .
It's worth noting that while Sporting's substitutes contributed 38 points to an effort to secure a win that was only called into question at 2-0 and 4-2, the Islanders' substitutes – who used just four points – ended up with two points (!). Alonzo Sule (31 Pts, 6 REs, 3 REs), D'Angel Purifoy (12 PTS, 9 REs) and John Gittings (12 PTS, 6 REs) were the only locals to exceed ten points.
However, the Lions, who committed 8 turnovers compared to their opponent's 14, once again found it difficult to extend their complete dominance in the table fight, as Kaneko's team generated 35 rebounds, 13 of which were offensive, against 34 (9). Of green and white.
As for the long-awaited battle for the first half of the league table, Ovarense overtook Guimarães in fourth place after resisting the visit of Miguel Miranda’s team thanks to the coolness of American winger Jeremiah Bailey (15 points, 3 minutes), who did not flinch when he had to score two free throws. After a foul by Pedro Bastos (3), 0.12 seconds before the final whistle to settle the score 91-90.
In response, the Vimaranenses, with 7.47m remaining, were down 76-69, still trying to come back, but Caleb Cato (13 points, 11 asses) missed a three-point shot.
Jameer Harris (28 points) is ranked as Ovar's top scorer, while on the other hand, the actions of Belarusian winger Dmitri Rione (26 points, 6 minutes) should be highlighted, as only one of the seven threes he attempted was missed, Lloyd Bryan (15 points, 9 minutes). accuracy, 3 asses) and Cornelius Hudson (16 points, 6 asses).
Immortal hosted Lusitânia and beat them – continuing to win the tournament – 100-70. This is the second time the Algarve team has reached the 100 mark this season. The previous time was when they left coal next to Sporting's Christmas tree on December 22 when they won 104-98 and thus inflicted the league leaders' second defeat. The first came in the seventh round against Oliverense (90-85).