It is clear that EuroChallenge has no interest here in Seville. Even less people came to "San Pablo" to see the match between Cajasol and Belgacom Liege. This is a strange team, since seven of eleven players on the roster are americans, of course all of them on the starting five. So it seemed Cajasol played against some kind of CBA team. It was not supposed to be so difficult.
The game started more or less like the one against Energa Czarni. Juanjo Triguero was the leader on the paint, very well helped by Warren Carter, and Ty Ellis. They soon got a good advantage, and so it happened on the second quarter too, but at the end of the first half, the score was 44-34. Not a big difference at all after leading the game by seventeen points.
The surprise came in the last twenty minutes. The fans were supporting the visiting team, because they were supposed to be the "weak" team, and that way at least they had some fun, since the atmosphere was so cold. Somebody here should think about installing a heater or something like that. But then it was Chris Hill, former star from Michigan State, who burned the game scoring five consecutive three pointers which took his team back in the game, and knocked out Cajasol completely. They just didn't react.
A bad defense was the main reason why Liege came back to the game. And great heart by those american players who were not meant to give all they had inside and get fourteen offensive rebounds. That way, they always had extra opportunities to score from the outside, and so they did.
At that time, nobody in Cajasol knew what to do. Triguero wasn't here, neither Ellis or Carter, Miso… Nobody. On the last two minutes they started to defend, but Liege was five points up, and they couldn't score in the last two chances to win the game. Bad decisions taken too fast at the last moment.
In the end, it was the team which most deserved it the one that won the game, and now Cajasol will have to think about what to do in the future, because they can't afford to keep loosing games, both in ACB and EuroChallenge, if they want their fans to come to see the matches. A fact that makes me wonder: if this team goes to LEB league (second division in Spain), who in the world will come here? And if nobody comes here, what will be the future of pro basketball in Seville?