A victory with flashes breaking a lot of stones (82-66)

After the first quarter, there was a feeling that the game would not have much history unless Betis tightened up a little more in defense and accelerated in attack. Because without being a wall behind (he allowed many free shots) or being enlightened in shooting, he scored 21 points and left his opponent at twelve. Hughes was the free verse of a Betis Baloncesto that controlled the situation and Cvetkovic, with a couple of layups, led to the first breakaway situation, which later was not such. Hairs to the sea. Without brilliance in the game, there was hardly any flash from Hughes, Betis led by nine and had their rival, stubborn in the triple (2/12), on the verge of derailment. It was a matter of fine-tuning the offensive machinery a little more.

Hermanson, unprecedented in the first quarter, entered the game with a three-pointer and then Ugochuwku scored only by hitting an offensive rebound (21-17). Cartagena had activated itself based on more legs, intensity and movement without the ball. That rebound did not even tickle Betis, who in reality were not good in almost anything except for the defense, imperturbable, and the rebound. But the lights went out completely in attack. A fade to black that lasted five minutes into the second quarter. Not a single field goal basket was counted in that time, very stuck, unable to generate space and advantages in the Cartagena defense. As if anesthetized. The disconnection required the intervention of Gonzalo García de Vitoria, via timeout. The game slowed down and thickened. Show, a little, a lot of pick and shovel. Renfroe broke the drought (26-19) while Benite scratched one foul after another to add, in the absence of other joys, from the free kick. When talent does not prevail, you have to work hard (29-21).

Cartagena was not discouraged, and by insisting on the triple they ended up finding a flaw in the Betic defense. Garuba and Smallwood scored and Usman’s brother completed a two plus one that adjusted the result as much as possible (31-30). The absolute disconnection of Betis, threat after threat, was now official. At idle you can’t play all the time and Betis didn’t get caught up. Its rhythm, pachydermic. Gil once again punished the poor local defensive balance by making the comeback (31-32) after a 10-20 partial in the second quarter. Cvetkovic responded to the Cartagena affront with a frontal triple in a rare phase of the match from the referee’s point of view with a succession of attacking fouls from both sides that cut off the rhythm. Unable to decipher the visiting defense, which had changed its morphology, Betis went from 67% shooting from the field in the first quarter to 38% in the intermission. They continued to keep the rebound as their property (25/16), but Cartagena had managed to take the game, already tied (34-34), to the field that most interested them.

Many fouls and two techniques

It was an obligation for Betis Baloncesto, distorted even from the free kick, to recover the lost energy. Because its fuel mixture had become lean. Jelinek finally found perimeter oil and the Czech himself extended the starting partial to 8-0 (42-34). Charged with the third foul, Renfroe handed the baton to Cvetkovic. The refereeing bar for fouls was really low. A refereeing concert that destroyed the pace of the match. Cartagena scored on the run and Betis scored five against five. Opposite styles. Intermittent as ever, he conceded 0-8 (42-42) and Radoncic, at 45-42, lost his technique for protesting in front of a very punctilious referee trio, not at all homemade. After the Betic protest for a block by Hermanson with a possible foul on Hughes, a new technique against the green and white (45-44), this time for their coach.

The game moved in slow motion because there were almost more fouls than points. At least, the referee’s protagonism woke up the pavilion… and also Cvetkovic, who decongested his team when it was most short of air (50-47). Hughes raised the score (52-47), but Betis didn’t quite get going in attack and Cartagena didn’t let up in defense, pressing all the way and generating one error after another for the hosts (52-51). Both teams protected themselves in their barricades, veritable minefields: arms everywhere, contacts everywhere and a string of fouls (40 at the end of the third quarter) and free throws in each attack. In that context, Cartagena did not lose pace, they felt very comfortable and had disabled many Betic references, who won by five (58-53).

The party did not admit the mistake. After six failed attempts, Benite’s first triple was canceled for three seconds in Kasibabu’s zone in full tightness (60-56). DeBisschop and Renfroe, spectacular with five points, two of them a steal and a layup, made it 67-58 just before Jelinek injured his right ankle. Ipso facto, Benite accelerated Betis’s lead with an eight-meter frontal triple after a beastly rebound, very high, from Renfroe (72-61). This is how the green and white team passed the stress ball to the roof of Cartagena, which could no longer get back up. Their defensive bolts had been blown up with Renfroe, the key, unraveling the game in the decisive minutes. Everything was already a highway towards the rival basket for Betis, who sweated, suffered and finally won very comfortably, resolving without stress, with the usual placidity of many of their last quarters. Where the law of the strongest imposes.