Updated 6 minutes ago
The Spanish men’s basketball team has mathematically sealed this Monday in Ourense his ticket for the Eurobasket of Cyprus, Latvia, Finland and Poland 2025 after beating Slovakia on the fourth day of the qualifying phase (84-71), a match in which, led by Santi Yusta (25 points) and Carlos Alocén (11)took the initiative and corrected the errors of last Friday.
With their new victory against the Central European team, which they already won last week in an epic match with Santi Yusta forcing the second overtime (72-76) with four tenths left, Sergio Scariolo’s team made sure, with two games left, his presence in the final phase of the continental tournamentwhich the team has not missed since 1957, to defend its crown.
In the Galician city, Casademont Zaragoza forward Santi Yusta led the Spanish attack with 25 points – surpassing his 21 points from Bratislava – and 26 PIR, supported by Dreamland Gran Canaria point guard Carlos Alocén, who contributed 11 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
With a packed Pazo dos Deportes Paco Paz, Spain soon took command. With a triple by Carlos Alocén and a steal and subsequent dunk by Santi Yusta, hero of the previous duel, he managed to gain a small advantage (16-9). However, the Madrid forward’s seven points in this first quarter were replicated by the winger.UCAM Murcia center Vladimir Brodziansky, who kept his team in the game.
The Slovaks tightened the score in the final moments with a 5-0 that led to 22-18 at the end of the quarter, and extended the lead (7-0) at the start of the second before a basket by Sergio de Larrea cut the lead. bleeding. After that, the European champion responded perfectly to escape.
Thus, a 9-0 partial return to Scariolo’s teamamong which the absolute debut was made by Rafa Villar, U-19 world champion, and in the final minutes he allowed them to reach the break with a comfortable +15 (47-32).
After passing through the locker room, Slovakia added seven consecutive points that brought them closer to the scoreboard (47-39), although Yusta, with a steal and shot of two, seemed to be in charge of keeping calm. However, Brodziansky and David Abrham, the latter from the three-point line, forced Scariolo to call a timeout (49-44).
Another triple by Abrham brought the nerves back to the pavilion, but Josep Puerto, also from 6.75, and the recovery in the subsequent Slovakian play gave air (55-47). Little by little, the Spaniards regained their momentum and increased their lead again with plays like Yusta’s ‘alley-oop’ and Fran Guerra’s subsequent dunk.
With a lead of +14 (71-57) the final quarter was reached, which De Larrea opened with a triple. Without excessive problems, the European champion was heading towards victory, which will allow her to face the last two matches of the qualifying phase without problems in February 2025.
TECHNICAL SHEET.
–RESULT: SPAIN, 84 – SLOVAKIA, 71 (47-32, at halftime).
–TEAMS.
SPAIN: Alberto Díaz (-), Puerto (10), Yusta (25), Pradilla (8) and Sima (2) –starting quintet–; Almansa (3), Alocén (11), Guerra (11), De Larrea (7), Barreiro (5), Salvó (2) and Villar (-).
ESLOVAQUIA: Abraham (6), Malovec (12), Pavelka (11), Volarik (3) y Brodziansky (19) –quinteto inicial–; Ihring (8), Majercak (4), Szabo (3) y Fusek (5).
–PARTIALS: 22-18, 25-14, 24-25 and 13-14.
–REFEREES: Proc, Mitrovski and Jurcevic.
–PAVILLION: Pazo dos Deportes Paco Paz.
