MALAGA (Spain) - If there's something we've learned thus far about ALBA BERLIN's first season in the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL, it's how dangerous they can be away from home.
Heading to the Quarter-Finals, they had a higher winning percentage on the road (83.3%) than in front of their fans (66.7%). However, Unicaja are a nightmare to face in Malaga, where they've won their last 20 BCL home games heading into this one.
Actually, make it 21 with Wednesday's 72-69 success over the German powerhouse, getting up 1-0 in their Quarter-Final series. They're now one win away from their fourth consecutive BCL Final Four.
Turning Point
Everything looked serene for Unicaja with seven minutes to play in the game, being up by 12 points (64-52) after controlling the encounter for basically the entire night.
That wasn't enough to turn off ALBA's bravery. The guests were still alive late in the game, cutting the deficit from -12 (64-52) to tie at 67-67 with 2:35 to play as Jack Kayil took over in Malaga.
That's when the back-to-back champs brought all of their experience and calmness to the floor, securing the win following a clutch three-pointer by Alberto Diaz, perfectly served by Kendrick Perry.
Player of the Game
Earlier on Wednesday night in Athens, James Nunnally demonstrated how effective adding a veteran as an in-season signing can be. The same pretty much applies to Justin Cobbs and Unicaja.
Coming off the bench and spending only 17:27 minutes on the court, the 35-year-old point guard had his best game with the Spanish side in the BCL, finishing with 13 points (3-of-3 from deep), 3 assists, and 2 steals.
Stats don't lie
It's certainly difficult to beat Unicaja in Malaga, as we said earlier. Imagine trying to do it by shooting only 6-of-26 (23.1%) from beyond the arc. It was a difficult three-point night for the hosts too, finishing at 9-of-31 (29%).
Ibon Navarro's team were slightly better than their opponents in rebounds (43-41), assists (18-16), and steals (9-6).
Bottom line
While Justin Cobbs was certainly effective for Unicaja off the bench, both Aleksander Balcerowski (15 points over 6-of-6 from the field) and Kendrick Perry (8 points, 5 assists, and 2 steals) led the way on the starting five.
Pedro Calles' team will now try to come back into the Quarter-Final series at home in the German capital on April 8 at 20:00 CET, hosting Unicaja in Game 2 in Max-Schmeling-Halle.
If ALBA cut down the deficit all the way to just three points at the end of Game 1, attempting to shock Unicaja, huge credit belongs to Jack Kayil. The 20-year-old gem had a 19-point losing effort.
They said
"Congratulations to the team for the victory. For sure, the accuracy of both teams was not the best, but maybe that’s because of the demanding level of the game. I think we made some mistakes on some things that we had to control, especially in some moments when we had an advantage on the score, but like Justin (Cobbs) said, Alberto showed up big-time at the end with that big three and we clinched the first one." - Unicaja head coach Ibon Navarro