Marquinhos, who was one of Vasco’s scorers against Bauru. Photo: Mauricio Almeida / Vasco da Gama
What a hotly contested series! The duel between 4th and 5th place in the NBB regular season is on fire in the quarterfinals. Thus, playing in Rio de Janeiro, Vasco da Gama beat Bauru Basket, in extra time, 95 to 87. In this way, Cruzmaltino tied the series 2-2 and it will be another clash that needs a tiebreaker game to define a semifinalist.
A high-level delivery of basketball and a lot of competition on the court. In this way, with a lot of emotion and nerves on edge, Marquinhos led Vasco in the private duel against Alex Garcia, from Bauru. The fact that the two are veterans, one with 39 and the other with 44, above all, did not diminish the impetus and rush that both delivered on the court. The Rio team’s winger scored 21 points, had five rebounds and gave two assists. On the other hand, the winger from the team from the interior of São Paulo was the scorer of the match, with 23 points and 7/7 shots from two, with 22 efficiency.
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The duel started well balanced, with Bauru outscoring Vasco 22-20 in the first quarter. With a run in the first five minutes of the next stage, Dragão took a 39-25 lead. But Cruzmaltino recovered the loss, even finishing behind going into the break.
So, the home team, as Vasco played at Tijuca’s gym this Sunday (12), had a great third quarter, with 27 to 16, going ahead by three points. Bauru did not give up and seemed to have learned the lesson from the first clash between the two teams in the quarter-finals.
Remembering the recent past
In the first match, in São Januário, Bauru tied 72-72 and had the game ball, but Pedro wasted it. Vasco took advantage of extra time to win and take a 1-0 lead in the series. Then, Dragão won the next two at home.
Again, Bauru had the game’s ball, this time to tie the match, as they lost 81 to 79 with eight seconds on the clock. The team had the best scorer of the season, Dontrell Brite, for a safety ball, inside the perimeter, and sought overtime.
It was the opportunity to change the film once and for all and close the quarter-finals so we could think about Flamengo in the next phase. However, history repeated itself and Vasco scored 14-6 to tie the series and force game 5, which takes place next Tuesday (14), at 8pm, in São Januário.
Founder and content director of Olimpíada Todo Dia
