Nacional and Peñarol play this Friday on the Unión Atlética court for the last date of the first round of the 2021-2022 Uruguayan Basketball League.
The match is played on the Unión Atlética court only with Nacional fans and under a large security operation.
Nacional, directed by Leonardo Zylbersztein, started with Manuel Romero, Pierino Rusch, Dominique Morrison, Quincy Miller and Johndre Jefferson.
Peñarol, directed by Pablo López, opted for this initial quintet: Diego García, Martín Aguilera, Mike Rosario, Lee Roberts and Justin Flowers.
In the first quarter, Nacional played better with the double base suggested by their DT, with Romero driving and Rusch looking for the outside shot.
With this joint action, the team concealed Morrison’s lack of a goal, well defended by Aguilera.
A triple precisely from Rusch allowed the tricolor a maximum advantage of seven points on the scoreboard.
The entry of Salvador Zanotta allowed the aurinegro a reaction and go down only three points on the scoreboard (21-18).
Nacional got off to a better start in the second quarter and Peñarol was very erratic with Mike Rosario’s shots (0 of 5 in triples).
With Morrison scoring, the tricolor opened a 10-point lead (31-21).
But once again Zanotta put the team on his shoulder to allow the aurinegro to go just one point down at the long break (41-40).
Justin Flowers, another key player in the reaction, was Peñarol’s top scorer with 14 points, the same as Nacional’s best scorer, Quincy Miller.
In the third quarter came the best of Peñarol who managed to get up to 5 points ahead (55-50) with a good shot from outside in which his best shooter, Rosario, could never tune in.
But Nacional quickly adjusted the marks and at the close, two three-pointers by Romero and Morrison gave them an advantage again (61-56) to enter the last quarter on top.
The match entered a climate of maximum tension with Evaristo González, president of Peñarol basketball, speaking heatedly with the judges and with his bench.
The humidity of the field became unbearable and the falls of the players became frequent.
A triple by Diego García allowed Peñarol to take the lead again (70-69) with 4’30” to go.
Check out the match stats here.
The match
First quarter: National 21-18
Second quarter: National 41-40
Third quarter: National 61-56
Final:
