Lenovo Tenerife completed the poster for the Final Four of the Champions League on Wednesday and will fight for the title in Belgrade against Spanish Unicaja de Málaga and UCAM Murcia and Peristeri from Greece after defeating Tofas Bursa 78-55 in the third match of the quarter- final tie of this European competition.
A more even match was expected between the Canary Islands and the Turks, but the Tenerifes decided to take the fast route. First of a very good first quarter that left the Turks, at the end of the first ten minutes, with a difference of fifteen points (26-11) and although Tofas Bursa was able to react in the second period, after the break the island team He once again dominated the match and gave no chance to Tofas Bursa who couldn’t find a place on the field today.
The “awakening” of Finn Sasu Salin, author of 12 points, is outstanding, but what is important is that he found his place in the team, getting four of the six triples obtained.
Preventing them from scoring from the outside is the goal set by the two coaches. Those few options in finding a good shot meant that the first baskets were scored from inside the zone, both for the home and visiting teams.
But Salin took advantage of his first opportunity to score his first triple and put the score at 7-4 (min.3) and thus began to gain distance against a rival who, although he had chances to score, has stopped his offensive production in his tracks.
From that 7-4 it went to 15-4 after another triple from Salín and Tenerife started to take off on the scoreboard until they were 21-4, an unthinkable advantage after seeing the previous two game.
At 26-11 we reached the end of the first quarter and in the second the victories of the visitors appeared. But first, a 9-0 run for Lenovo Tenerife to reach a 21-point difference (32-11, min. 12).
Tofas Bursa appeared in the 12th minute of the match. Their outside shots seemed to find the right path and Homesley, first, and Prewitt Sakic, then scored three triples to bring the Tenerife team back to 0-9.
The Turkish team got back into the game, although the locals were solid, both in their defensive and attacking work and managed to reach the break with a reassuring 47-31 lead.
The judgment of the island team ended at the beginning of the third quarter and with the help of Sasu Salin -two more triples-, the islanders again put a comfortable difference on the scoreboard (61-35, min.27) and the clash was seen for the sentence.
Tofas Bursa made a last attempt, but Lenovo Tenerife had the game in hand and sealed their qualification more easily than expected.
Data sheets
Lenovo Tenerife-Tofas Bursa, 78-55
78 – Lenovo Tenerife (26+21+18+13). Huertas (13), Salin (12), Sastre (2), Abromaitis (5), Guerra (10) -initial-, Shermadini (12), Fitipaldo (3), Vicedo (7), Guy (10), Diop ( -), López (-) and Cook (4).
55 – Tofas Bursa (11+20+10+14).Winston (7), Homesley (5), Denmon (7), O’Brien (4), Wiley (6) –starter-, Cengiz (-), Kurtuldum (4), Prewitt (3), Gecim (3), Demir (11) and Sakic (5).
Referees: Zarapovic (BYH), Mazzoni (ITA) and Rosso (FRA). They taught a technique to the coach of Tofas Bursa, Orhum Ene (min19).
Incidents: Third and final match of the quarterfinal series of the FIBAChampions League, played at the Santiago Martín Sports Pavilion, before 4,842 spectators.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
