The Serbian team headed into 2025 with a gritty road win over a plucky rival
Resilient Crvena Zvezda edges out Baskonia, 73-75
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade completed a perfect tour of Spain in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague with a 73-75 victory at Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz to improve to 11-8. The win came after Zvezda celebrated a 74-78 win at FC Barcelona in the previous round.
Joel Bolomboy paced Zvezda with 16 points and 8 rebounds, but it was Isaiah Canaan who emerged as the game-winner for the visitors after sinking a pair of crucial layups. Canaan finished with 15 points, despite making just 1 of 8 from downtown, while Rokas Giedraitis sank 12 points against his former club.
At the other end, Chima Moneke scored 18 points, Donta Hall netted 14 while Markus Howard and Trent Forrest chipped in with 10 each for Baskonia, which shot 0 of 15 from deep in the first half and dropped to 8-11 after a tough home loss.
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The home team made a bright start and took an early 14-6 lead as Hall dominated the paint in the opening exchanges, but Zvezda hit back with a 0-10 run before getting firmly into the driver’s seat in the second quarter. Bolomboy took over as Baskonia had no reply for the Serbian outfit’s fast-paced offense, garnished with some spectacular slam-dunks, which propelled the visitors into a 28-42 halftime lead.
Aggressive defense on the perimeter made it difficult for Baskonia to get any open looks from long range, with the hosts misfiring time and again as their backcourt struggled, particularly Howard.
Zvezda looked set for some plain sailing after engineering a 42-57 advantage in the third quarter, with Bolomboy bending the rim with yet another ferocious dunk, but Baskonia got a second win with a 10-0 run that set the scene for a tense final 10 minutes.
Baskonia closed the gap to 68-69 as Howard, who finished on 2 of 10 from downtown, hit a rare triple and the home team nosed ahead 73-71 in the home straight, as Zvezda’s offense was ground to a screeching halt. However, Canaan came up big down the stretch as he twice weaved his way through traffic to force the final twist, with Moneke falling short with a tough hook shot on the buzzer at the other end.