Baxi Manresa left Kirolbet Baskonia out of the Copa del Rey de Málaga to achieve a victory of merit, 79-80, which was decided in the last seconds. Those of Pedro Martínez won at Fernando Buesa Arena eight years later, and reaped the fourth consecutive victory for less than three points, supported by a great performance by Davis Kravish and Alexandar Cvetkovic , who found the success of Ryan Toolson and Eulis Báez in the hottest minutes It will be the second time in 23 years that Baskonia does not dispute the Cup.

Baskonia was not fine and did not have enough rhythm to face a duel against one of the teams in the form of the championship, which best faced the final minutes of a clash full of emotions. The azulgrana began with success and loaded the inner game in the first attacks, but the manresanos took advantage of the second options and played with criterion to take the initiative with the leadership of Davis Kravish .

The Baskonia had defensive problems in the two against two and the Catalans took advantage of the mismatches in the paint to expand the rent, at the time when those of Dusko Ivanovic were blocked in attack. The Baskonists reacted from the defense and with a partial 8-2 tied the clash to 32 with a lot of activity from Shavon Shields and Pierrià Henry, who sent the clash to the break with a basket that tied the duel to 39.

The Vitorians entered cold in the second half and the script continued as in the first part, with a Manresa with very clear ideas and with more rhythm than the Basque team, who could not find his place and worked with sparks. A triple with additional free kick from Canadian Nik Stauskas turned the score and lit the fuse of Fernando Buesa Arena, although Luke Nelson scored on the horn to put a hopeful 56-58 in favor of the Catalans.

Cvetkovic's sentence

The exchange of baskets marked the beginning of the last period, where the intensity of Ilimane Diop and Sergi García made one more step for the Basques who contained Davis Kravish's score. A triple by Eulis Báez returned the equalizer, 65-65, and Pedro Martínez reacted with a mixed defense with four men in the zone and Aleksandar Cvetkovic before Matt Janning.

It was a change that made the Baskonists doubt, although they managed to add a triple of Shavon Shields that found Baez's answer with a basket of merit 54 seconds from the end. Cvetkovic expanded the difference, 74-77 and Manresan free throws buried the Vitorian options to go to the Copa del Rey, 79-80.

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