The Lointek Gernika Bizkaia did not have them all with them and in the end the bad omens were fulfilled. He took 24 rental points to Turkey but a trap was predicted. So it was, although a team already with tables like the Biscayan cannot go down so loudly. Its players deserve a monument but when they fail it is not advisable to cover it up either. Gerni were eliminated after falling 69-40 at the court of Turkish CBK Mersin in the second leg of the Eurocup playoff, the second continental competition.
Despite the bulky score, which reached -37 midway through the third quarter (54-17), the Biscayan team shot with pride to stay alive practically until the end of the game and even manage to level the tie (64-40) with 40 seconds to go. It already started twisted to late for Gernika before the initial jump, after Belén Arrojo’s positive for covid was known at the last minute, after the Granada had tested negative “in all the previous tests, including a PCR test in Istanbul,” according to confirmed the Basque club.
Arrojo’s sensitive loss left Mario López as only eight players in the rotation against a rival who, spurred on by the noisy crowd that packed the small Turkish pavilion, overwhelmed Gernika from the start and by the 12th minute he had already managed to neutralize the disadvantage that was brought from the Biscayan court (30-6). The gap grew to 54-17 in the 25th minute and only dropped to a disheartening -35 at the end of the third quarter (62-27). But with the tie in hand, the local team paid dearly for their overconfidence and gave wings to a Gernika that, with everything lost, never lowered its arms and smoothed out the differences.
The 64-36 with less than six minutes to go alerted Mersin coach Aziz Akkaya, who after a time-out barely managed to reconnect his players, although it did not prevent them from having to suffer until the end. However, with 64-40 and 40 seconds ahead, an inning that Rosó Buch failed to materialize and a subsequent triple by Jasmine Thomas definitively sentenced the crossing. Bitter goodbye to another continental adventure. Although Gerni was seeded, it was of little use to them because they fell into a very strong group. He went through a fluke phase (not even the club was aware of it on the last day) and Brcaninovic kindled hope in the playoff, but it went down the gutter in Turkey.
#Gernika #Europe #Turkish #entrapment
