Bilbao Basket downs Valencia on the road (60-61) with a 2.1 seconds left dagger from the Greek guard/forward.
With this win Bilbao got a new life in this Last 16 round standing with a 2-2 record (same as Valencia Basket after this game) in Group J.
The last match’s results between both teams could also be crucial if they end in with a record tied, where Bilbao take the lead because of the two wins against their rivals.
Kostas Vasiliadis was the man of the game not just because of his last three pointer but also because of his 14 points which led the winning side. Alex Hervelle with 11 boards and 6 points and Lamont Hamilton with 12 points and 5 rebounds were solid for Bilbao.
On the Valencia side the good efforts from Justin Doellman (14 points, 7 rebounds and 6 steals), Sergey Lishchuk (14 points and 4 boards) and Rafa Martinez (14 points) weren’t enough to top the Basque team at their home.
Valencia started in great pace with a 5-0 start in the first minute of the game, but after three minutes without scoring the visitors tied the score in a “mini-show” of what would happen for most the game with lots of lead changings between both squads.
In the first twenty minutes it was a well-balanced game for both teams with none of them taking a double digit lead but Valencia went to the half time with a 37-29
The biggest run of the game came in the third quarter where Bilbao made a 0-6 run to put the game within one point and that became a crucial point to enter in the first ten minutes of this clash.
A more experienced Bilbao team showed up in the last quarter, and after a held ball that led to a Bilbao possession when the game was 60-58 with only 28 seconds it was time for one last offense for them.
Mumbru drove to the basket and passed the ball to Hervelle that with a hockey assists found Kostas Vasiliadis who scored a three pointer with only 2.1 seconds left that gave a 60-61 win for the team from Bilbao
