The Sailors' basketball players managed to overcome the problems from the preparatory period, to consolidate their ranks and, as they announced, "do away with" Benfica - the Rams won 96:68 in Lisbon, in the first match of the second round of qualification for the FIBA Champions League, so they only have to pass to the group stage of certification in the second leg, on Sunday in Bar.
After the initial lead of the Sailors (10:6), Benfica turned it around in the middle of the first quarter, took a 12:11 lead, and by the end of the section reached a six-point lead (24:18).
The Portuguese had an advantage of eight points at the beginning of the second quarter (26:18), until 28:21 they controlled the game and the result, but then came the awakening of Baran and a series of 10:0, for a reversal to 31:28, in the middle of the section .
From that moment on, Mornar never let go of the lead, which in the second quarter went up to 43:33, while the guests reached a 15-point advantage in the third quarter (58:43).
With an 11:0 series, Benfica returned to the match (58:54), so Mornar had a lead of seven points (10:65) before the last 58 minutes...
However, everything was already decided after less than two minutes in the last quarter when the Montenegrin vice-champion took the lead 72:58. Until the end of the match, the advantage of the visitors only grew minute by minute, up to the biggest difference of 30 (95:65)...
Among the Sailors, the best players were Jacob Pullen with 29 points (six three-pointers), Milko Bjelica with 18, Damir Markota with 17 (7-5 three-pointers) and Antabija Waller with 14 points.
Interestingly, Derek Needham had the most rebounds in the Mariners' team, seven, and he also recorded nine assists and seven points. On the other hand, Uroš Luković did not even shoot at the opponent's basket in 16 and a half minutes of play, and recorded four defensive rebounds.
Hollis stood out for the hosts with 15 points, Downs and McGee added 12 each.
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