The UCAM Murcia sneaks into the TOP 16
The UCAM Murcia’s visit to the city of Podgorica has made a new mark in the history of the Murcia club. The university closed its qualification for the TOP 16 of the Eurocup after beating the Buducnost while having four days of competition remaining. The UCAM Murcia, who was trailing during the first three quarters, was able to turn the encounter in the final quarter of the game and take the victory by 75 to 86. The 21 points without missing by Vitor Faverani (10/10 in T2), 19 by Vitor Benite and 24 by Facundo Campazzo led the side for Óscar Quintana.
The match started with basket exchange by both sides. Vitor Faverani dominated the area with 6 points, keeping his good form displayed against FC Barcelona Lassa (8-8). The Montenegrin response was led by Popovic while the personal fouls of Pocius and Radovic placed the UCAM Murcia in a bad position in the middle of the quarter. Marcus Williams points and the unmarked 5 minutes of the college allowed a 10-0 run for the Buducnost that opened the gap. The departure of Vitor Benite brought freshness to the Murcia attack with 5 points reducing the gap at the end of the first period (21-15).
In the second quarter Benite continued to see the hoop easily and his points continued to bring the Murcia team closer (25-22). The locals based their scoring on the outside with a very inspired Williams and thanks to their 66% from the 3 point line they were back within 10 points (33-24). Jose Angel Antelo responded in attack although UCAM Murcia was still struggling a lot to score with fluency before the errors in the outside launch. The Buducnost also froze their scoring in the last minutes of the fourth and thanks to a basket of Facundo Campazzo on the horn of the room the university went to the break trailing by only 6 points (41-35).
The match resumed with a shocking blow in the masked face of Facundo Campazzo. However, the Argentine quickly recovered with three assists proving to be 100% and putting the Murcia to within 2 points (46-44). After several minutes of scoring with the scoreboard stagnant, the local shots re-entered but the activity in the offensive rebound of the UCAM Murcia kept him quiet. It was again Marcus Williams who took responsibility in the Montenegrins but Sadiel Rojas's points on American and college free throws brought him to the end of the third quarter (61-58).
A three pointer Vitor Benite levelled the match at the beginning of the last period and after several minutes the UCAM Murcia, again by the hand of Benite, was placed ahead in the points (63-67). The college students showed their best in the last period while the Buducnost survived based on the three pointers of Williams and Reynolds. With the Montenegrins behind by 2 points Rojas first appeared with a 3 pointer and then Faverani with a 2 + 1 to get 8 up (71-79). With only two minutes to go the Buducnost tried desperately to get back in the match but the greater success of Facu Campazzo and Vitor Faverani secured the victory of the Murcia side by 75 to 86.