There are a lot of virtual things in sports and specifically in basketball. For example, the permanence for Bilbao Basket. The 12 victories he keeps in his warehouse give him that tacit calm and no one is going to take him away from him. To think that the modest team from Bilbao can beat the luxurious Valencia is to enter the realm of dreams. Well, it materialized as the culmination of the Biscayan Basketball Festival in Miribilla, since that meeting was the second course in an afternoon that opened with the Gernika-Campus Promete of the Women’s League, also with a local smile. Not long ago, when Mumbrú’s team was promoted, squads with a lot of pedigree like this one from Peñarroya often knelt before the ‘men in black’, but circumstances have changed. So old times were remembered.
The trembling Bilbao Basket of the final minute and a half of Fuenlabrada stayed there, at the Fernando Martín. Because the attitude after the initial jump against the taronja was typical of a hungry ogre. The intense start allowed them to sail ahead for most of the match, breaking a tie at 55 in the third quarter. And combust like other times Miribilla. When he saw himself with his breath on the back of his opponent’s neck, perhaps with his head in the Eurocup, Mumbrú’s boys gave a personality lesson.
If it’s ringing the bell on defensive intensity, better call Inglis’ house. The Frenchman was a volcano charging his batteries behind, well supported by an immeasurable Withey. He even saved a ball on the sideline by throwing it against an opponent and picking up the rebound by keeping the ball inside the field of play. Reversals, hoops passed… only because of a final mistake, otherwise the Surne would have left the Taronja at 7 in the opening quarter. The visiting team was 3-11 in shots from two. Peñarroya activated Hanlan’s letter, the top scorer in the Greek league, who arrives for the injured Prepelic. Neither was Dimitrijevic. What a signing! Bilbao is missing ‘Mustache’ and not even the razor comes.
From a strenuous defense, the Basque team clarified their ideas a lot in attack and embroidered the basketball: 40-21. A repetition of what happened in the first round, although in this case the Valencians corrected the disaster. Incredible attitude, while Peñarroya punished those who did not go down in local transitions with bench shots. Impotence took over his boys, tired after the games against Unicaja, Ulm and Bilbao in six days. Thus, López-Arostegui received a technical foul before the break.
La Fonteta’s team did not want to go through Miribilla without giving a bit of a fight and came out very aggressive after the long break. In three minutes he endorsed a 0-14 run that took him to 46-45 with a basket by Hermannsson at 6:33 to finish the second act. The fluidity disappeared and the bipolar Bilbao of other afternoons emerged. Porco then equalized Claver with a house-record triple: 55-55. Tobey, completely lost during the afternoon, missed free throws to take the lead. It was the most critical moment for the ‘men in black’, but they showed their great character. Three triples in a row and again with a triumphant face. Even Walker wanted to justify signing him.
The match got hot and crazy. Bilbao Basket kept risking with defensive changes and sometimes they panicked, but bless their madness. Rousselle served as captain and dynamite. Bilbao’s mentality was again that of the boss of the shed. And if there was any doubt about his bad shadow with free kicks, this time the gods smiled at him too. With 1:06 to go, Delgado had pitches on his torture rack. Dubljevic had kicked him off the field in an action under the rim and Mumbrú used his turn to ask for the review. Normal missing. What a dramatic moment. The Dominican scored the first, who saw the stars because they hit him in Fuenlabrada and he was touched, and Inglis took the rebound in the second. He ended up scoring Angel himself. Big party in Miribilla. It is not every day that you see two victories in one afternoon in the elite women’s and men’s teams.
“I feel responsible, we were in the body, but little else. In the third quarter we looked like what we are”, Peñarroya mumbled. His colleague Mmbrú, who on Wednesday has one of the great days of his life with the withdrawal of the shirt against Madrid, raised his arms as he went to the locker room in front of the stands. The Miribilla effect roared again as in the good old days. He well deserves it permanence.