Joventut survives Trefl rally, wins 92-89

The visitors reduced a 27-point deficit to 1 in the last minutes, but missed the three that could have forced overtime.

Regular Season

Round 12 of 18

game Trefl Sopot vs Joventut Badalona

Group A

18 December 2024, 19:30

Regular Season

18 December 2024, 19:30

Regular Season

Joventut Badalona

CJB

92

89

Trefl Sopot

SOP

Final Score

w

l

w

l

Joventut Badalona snapped a three-game losing streak thanks to a 92-89 win over Trefl Sopot at Palau Olimpic on Wednesday night. The hosts, who improved to 4-8 to keep dreaming of extending their season to the playoffs, saw Trefl come back from a 44-17 deficit early in the second quarter and had to wait till the final whistle to secure the outcome. With this loss, Sopot chained together 12 defeats in as many games and remained last in Group A.

Yannick Kraag scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half to lead the winners, Devon Dotson followed with 14 points and 6 assists and Artem Pustovyi and Kassius Robertson netted 11 and 10, respectively. Jaroslaw Zyskowski paced Sopot with 25 points; Aaron Best, Nahiem Alleyre and Nick Johnson contributed 13 apiece and Geoffrey Groselle had 12 in a losing effort.

Dotson and Pustovyi got Joventut going, 6-2, but back-to-back triples by Zyskowski and Alleyne right after a timeout put Trefl ahead early in the game, 6-8. It was nothing but an illusion, as the hosts used a couple of threes by Sam Dekker and Robertson to start a 20-2 run that built a comfortable double-digit lead, 26-10, after 7 minutes. The visitors stopped the game again, but it wasn’t enough to end the bleeding. Pushed by veterans Pau Ribas and Ante Tomic, Joventut kept soaring and even extended the margin to 39-17 at the end of the first quarter.

A three-pointer by Pep Busquests made it even worse for Sopot, 44-17, right after the break. Back-to-back threes by Alleyre and Zyskowski gave some breath to the Polish side and forced a timeout by Joventut midway through the second period, with the Spaniards still enjoying a 46-26 advantage. The visitors’ run didn’t stop here, though, as Groselle, Mikolaj Witlinski and Best combined to ignite a 13-4 run that Johnson and Zyskowski extended with a couple of three-point plays that reduced the margin to 53-45. With Kraag as the only contributor in that quarter. Joventut managed to retain a double-digit edge, 58-45, entering the last minute, but another scoring spurt by Johnson closed the first half with Trefl back into the game, 60-51.

A three-point play by Pustovyi and a triple by Gates pushed Joventut out of the danger zone, 68-53, as Trefl quickly stopped the game with a timeout. With Groselle leading the offense from the inside with 8 straight points, Trefl managed to abort the home team's escape attempt, making it 69-59 midway through the third quarter. A couple of technical fouls called on Groselle and Johnson slowed down the guests for a while, but Zyskoski’s fifth triple and an unsportsmanlike foul on Kraag returned some restlessness to the home crowd at 72-67. Both teams tried to take control of the game from behind the arc, but the only one that read the situation correctly was Johnson, who made it a one-possession game, 74-71. A three-point play by Dekker avoided further damage for Joventut, who entered the last stanza ruling 77-71.

Best helped Trefl come within 79-74 from behind the arc and another bucket by Zyskowski forced an early timeout by Joventut, with the game on the line once again, 79-76. Dotson and Robertson came to the rescue from outside, as Trefl missed some long-range shots that allowed Joventut to keep its opponent away, 86-78. Dotson followed with 4 points in a row to reconstruct a double-digit margin, 90-80, with 3 minutes remaining. But the game was far from finished, as Schenk showed up with back-to-back triples and Alleyre provided another from the corner to make it 90-89. Consecutive empty attacks by Joventut granted Trefl a chance to complete the rally with 25 seconds to go, but Schenk couldn’t convert a right-handed layup and, after Kayser Gates made it 92-89 from the line, Schenk also missed a last triple that could have tied the game at the buzzer.