BAXI Manresa will have to wait to be in the King's Cup
The Bages team was beaten on the court of Surne Bilbao Basket and need Baskonia to lose by more than one point in the visit of Real Madrid to the Buesa Arena.
74 Surne Bilbao Basket I Pantzar 11, Smith 18, Rabaseda 2, Andersson 3 and Killeya-Jones 9; Reyes, De Ridder 17, Renfroe 8, Hlinason 4 and Kullamae 2
54 BAXI Manresa I Dani Pérez 5, Badio 5, Sagnia 10, Robinson 2 and Steinbergs 10; Travanté 4, Dani García 2, Taylor 6, Coulibaly, Valtonen, Geben 10 and Oriola
Partials: 22-13, 24-21, 19-12, 9-8
BAXI Manresa could not open 2024 with a victory and fell clearly to Surne Bilbao Basket in the last game of the first round of the Endesa League (74-54). Now, Bages' team needs Baskonia to lose by more than one point in Real Madrid's visit to the Buesa Arena to be in the Copa del Rey in Málaga in February.
After a few first moments with an exchange of baskets, the visitors had little clarity of ideas and difficulties in attack. This caused an 11-0 run that put the Basques ten points ahead (20-10). At the end of the first quarter, nine points ahead of the locals led by former Manresa point guard Alex Renfroe (22-13).
In the second, the team from Manresa came out strong, scoring seven points in a row and were only two points away (22-20), which made Jaume Ponsarnau stop the game. Shortly after, Bages' team entered into a crisis of play, and a successful Bilbao took advantage of it to nail a 12-0 run. At halftime, it was 46-34 for some Basques who made nine blocks in the first half.
The second half began with a quick exchange of baskets, which favored the locals who continued to maintain a comfortable margin on the scoreboard. For their part, the visitors were still not in good shape and at the end of the third quarter they already had a very complicated game (65-46).
The last ten minutes did not have much of a story, since the team from Manresa were still unable to score and did not at any time jeopardize the victory of Surne Bilbao Basket.
On Sunday starting at 5:00 p.m., BAXI Manresa will open the second round of the Endesa League at home against a Euroleague rival, Baskonia, in the return of Chima Moneke to a Nou Congost that will also celebrate Pedro Martínez's 1,000 games in the ACB.