Valencia takes Game 1 of Eurocup Finals

The Eurocup Finals showdown between Valencia Basket and  Unics Kazan is underway and Valencia has drawn first blood by taking Game 1 of the series, 80-67. The Spanish hosts played excellent defense all throughout the contest and at the end of the day it yielded them a comfortable win.

They seized the initiative right from the first quarter and came away with a 15-point lead after it. Valencia controlled the game’s tempo and compounded their advantage when the halftime whistle blew. The Russian team found themselves lacking an offensive solution to their woes and were staring at a 49-27 hole that they had to climb out of. The break provided no answers as Valencia’s Justin Doellman proved to be too much for Unics Kazan to handle in this game. Valencia broke loose and were up by 30 points going into the final period. The men in green fought til the bitter end, but the buffer built by Valencia was too much for them to breach.

Doellman was on a tear, demolishing his opponents with 28 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals. He shot 10-16 from the field, which included a couple of bombs from three-point land and he also made six of his seven shots from the free-throw line as well. Oliver Lafayette took care of distributing the ball and he ended the night with seven assists to go with his eight points. Pau Ribas joined in the action with 14 points of his own.

Vladimir Veremeenko led Unics Kazan with 17 points. Luke Harangody added 14, while Chuck Eidson chipped in 10.