Zaragoza, Jan 18 (EFE) .- Lorenzo Alocén, the man who changed the rules of basketball, died on January 18, just on the day that marked the 60th anniversary of his legendary self-basket in a European Cup match of Real Madrid on the Ignis court in which the Whites ended up losing by two points.
On January 18, 1962, Real Madrid faced Ignis in Varese in the first leg of the round of 16 of the European Cup, a match that had an outcome as surprising as it was unexpected.
With two seconds to go, the scoreboard reflected a tie at 80 points that seemed to lead to the resolution of the confrontation in extra time because the equalizer was not valid. The existing regulations forced that there be a winner and the unexpected turn that the match took was worthy of the best suspense movie.
Extra time looked gloomy for the Spanish team given that Hightower, who was leading the team -with 27 points- scored, had been injured and Morrison and Sevillano had eliminated them for five fouls.
The coach of Real Madrid, Pedro Ferrándiz, faced with this bleak outlook for extra time, took advantage of a loophole in the rules of basketball and decided that it was better to lose by two than go to extra time in which the difference against could endanger the tie.
Thus, warning the team that they were going to put a basket in their own hoop to lose and the person in charge of it was Lorenzo Alocén, who first celebrated as if he had put it in the opposite hoop and later regretted supposedly realizing his mistake, moment that left the fans of the Italian team surprised at first, then mocking and finally outraged when they realized the trick.
Alocén’s teammates, to complete the theatrical scene, exaggerated the gestures of disbelief, showing that he had made the wrong basket with his nerves and the revelry and jeers became apparent in the stands until the fans began to realize that they were not It had been no mistake and that minimal defeat left the Whites with many options to come back in the Spanish capital, as they did, since they clearly prevailed (63-82) in the second leg.
From then on, FIBA punished voluntary self-baskets with a fine of 1,000 dollars and exclusion from the competition.
Official Communiqué: death of Lorenzo Alocén. #RealMadrid
— Real Madrid Basket (@RMBaloncesto) January 18, 2022
Highlights
However, Alocén (11-4-1937) was much more than the executing arm of one of the best tricks in sport because his career as a player leaves no room for doubt.
He played for 15 years in the highest category, was the top scorer in the League in the 1964-65 season, twice League champion with Real Madrid, twice in the Spanish Cup (one with Real Madrid and another with Picadero Jockey ), in addition to 69 international times.
With the national team he played in the 1961 Eurobasket (13th position) and 1969 (5th position) while in the Mexico’68 Olympic Games he was seventh.
He started at the modest Helios in the Aragonese capital where his physical power more than his technique, as he himself recognized, led him to be signed by Raimundo Saporta for Real Madrid and then return to the Zaragoza team and later do it at the Picadero and the Círculo Catholic from Badalona, where he finished his career.
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