7DAYS EuroCup: Valencia takes finals series lead

The road to the 7DAYS EuroCup trophy is underway as the finals series between Valencia and Unicaja Malaga tipped off on Tuesday. Valencia is hunting its fourth 7DAYS EuroCup title and the winningest club in the competition history is trying to stop fellow Spanish club Malaga from winning its first EuroCup.

The spoils of the first game went to Valencia in front of its home fans. Considering this is a best of three series, Valencia will now look to complete the job in the second game on Friday. However, Unicaja Malaga will have home advantage in that game and there was enough evidence to suggest that the team can even the series.

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Valencia Basket vs. Unicaja Malaga, 68-62

The game started with traded buckets before Malaga pulled ahead and were 7-17 in front. However, Valencia connected a couple from downtown to spur an 8-0 run. Through the first quarter the teams were tied 20-20. The second frame followed a similar pattern as the visitors pulled ahead on the back of an 0-8 run. However, once again Valencia hit back and by halftime it was all even. Through the long break the scoreboard read 35 apiece.

In the third act, Malaga once again showed early aggression. This time, Valencia’s fight back swung the momentum and the hosts progressed to a 50-48 advantage through thirty minutes. The hosts had some daylight and built on it in the fourth quarter. The former 7DAYS EuroCup champs moved 60-52 ahead and Malaga could not recover.

Bojan Dubljevic scored 14 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in the win, while Joan Sastre logged 13 points.

Unicaja Malaga struggled in attack, with just one player registering double digits. Jeff Brooks connected 11 points in the losing effort.