Joventut resists with Feliz and Ribas at the controls

The appearance of the Dominican Andrés Feliz, with 8 of his 15 points in the last quarter, led Joventut to victory against Gran Canaria (82-75), which was about to turn the match around in the final minutes thanks to the 19 points from Dylan Ennis, 12 in the final period.

The team from Badalona, ​​which with this victory equals Baxi Manresa in third place in the Endesa League, won by 18 points after the break (59-41, min. 27) but the reaction of the insular team (73-69, min. 39) was about to embitter the celebration for the renewal of coach Carles Duran until 2025.

The leaders of the two groups of the European Championship met in Badalona, ​​winners in their respective interweekly commitments in the competition, although the green and black aspired to storm third position and the yellows to take a step forward in the fight for eighth place .

The insular team started like a rocket (0-7, min.2) driven by the size of Artem Postovyi, author of 6 points in the first quarter, but Joventut quickly turned the result around thanks to triples by Brandon Paul, Guillem Vives and Joel Parra (11-9, min.5).

The Catalan team managed to finish the first quarter ahead (20-15) and, at the beginning of the second quarter marked by the dominance of the defenses over the attacks, responded to the triples of ‘AJ’ Slaughter and Miquel Salvó with baskets by Parra and Vives near the hoop (25-23, min. 16).

The exit to the track of the point guard Andrés Feliz revolutionized the duel. The Dominican livened up the pace of the green-and-black attack, driven by the success of Paul and Vladimir Brodziansky from outside (7 points each at halftime), placed a blocker and dismissed the first act with a triple that placed the maximum difference in the electronic (38-27).

Nico Brussino replied after the interval with two triples, but the green-and-black attack carburized with much more fluidity under the direction of Pau Ribas, first, (49-35, min.25) and Vives, later, involving all his teammates in scoring (59-41, min.27) without losing defensive aggressiveness.

The 60-45 with which the third quarter ended awakened the most aggressive version of Gran Canaria, which at the beginning of the last quarter annulled Joventut’s attack and reduced the disadvantage thanks to the energetic irruption of Dylan Ennisauthor of 12 points in a row without failure (65-59, min.35).

When the ball burned, the responsibility fell on Ante Tomic, Ribas and, above all, a Feliz who showed guts and talent in spades to score five points in the last minute and a half, going from 73-69 (min.39) to 82-75.