Andorra escaped with a narrow win at Joventut Badalona
The most important domestic league in European basketball, the Spanish ACB League scheduled four interesting games yesterday, counting for Round 6.
The home fans who were in attendance of the Palau Municipal d’Esports on Saturday afternoon went home disappointed as MoraBanc Andorra (2-4) upset favourites Joventut Badalona (3-3) on the road. After a very poor first quarter by both teams, where they scored only 18 points combined, the teams started to heat up in the second quarter and Joventut entered the break with a 34-33 lead. However, French power forward Amine Noua had an amazing second half and helped Andorra to be the first away team to win a game in Badalona this season.
Joventut had more rebounds (39-33), a better 2 points FG percentage and fewer turnovers, but the difference was made in favour of the Andorrans at the 3 points shot accuracy and assists. Joventut shot a poor 26 % (7 of 27), while the visitors had a great night from behind the line with 68 % of their threes made (13 of 19). Also, Ibon Navarro’s team dished 16 assists compared to 12 from ”Penya”.
The MVP of the game was easily Amine Noua with 26 points and a PIR of 31. Clevin Hannah also had a great contribution to the winning side with his 14 points. From the losing side, we could mention the effort of Slovakian power forward Vladimir Brodziansky who had 10 points and 8 rebounds.
Next round, Joventut will travel to Tenerife, but before that game, they will start their EuroCup campaign in Trento on Tuesday. Carles Duran has a good team, a mix of very experienced players and young talents, however, they need to be more constant, as they seem to alternate very good games like last round against Manresa with poor performances like yesterday.
Andorra will also play an away game in EuroCup in Krasnodar on Wednesday against Lokomotiv, while in Round 7 of the ACB they will host Valencia.
Imre Halasz
Image credit: Joventut Badalona
