Bizkaia Bilbao Basket crushing Spartak

Bizkaia Bilbao Basket improved to 2-0 in Eurocup Group E by crushing Spartak St. Petersburg 85-62 on Tuesday evening. Bilbao took charge early, mounting a double-digit lead early in the second quarter, extending it to 41-27 by halftime and reaching 25 in the third quarter as Spartak had no answers for the hosts’ shooting. Head coach Txus Vidorreta’s men were good for 11 three-pointers in 21 tries (52.4%) led by Paco Vazquez’s 5-for-5 effort. The hosts also outrebounded Spartak 34-25 and dished 19 assists to the visitors’ 9. All-Eurocup forward Marko Banic paced the winners with 18 points. Vazquez added 15 and Alex Mumbru and Renaldas Seibutis had 10 each for Bilbao, which travels to Turk Telekom next week. James White paced Spartak with 17 points. Yahor Meshcharakou added 11 points and Aleksey Zozulin scored 10 for head coach Zvika Sherf’s squad, which dropped to 1-1 and hosts Spirou Basket in Week 3.

Bilbao won the opening tip and Seibutis broke the ice for the home team before White put Spartak on the board from the line. White soon hit from downtown to give the visitors their first lead and the teams proceeded to trade baskets for the next few possessions. Bilbao threatened to break away as Mumbru scored twice in an 8-0 run to make it 14-7. Spartak’s press resulted in three straight steals and three baskets that drew the visitors within 1. After a Bilbao timeout and three substitutions, Damir Markota drained a three-pointer and Jerome Moiso scored inside the keep the hosts in control. Despite a White slam, Vazquez drilled a three to make it 22-15 after 10 minutes. Neither scored for nearly three minutes to open the second quarter before Moiso converted a basket-plus-foul to give Bilbao its first double-digit lead. Vazquez bettered Zozulin’s basket with a three and after Goran Suton scored for Spartak, back-to-back triples by Vazquez and Janis Blums made it 34-19. Despite a basket from Milovan Rakovic, Spartak had no answers as Banic scored twice to increase the gap to 17. Zozulin added a three and Evgeny Kolensikov a two-pointer to narrow the gap to 41-27 by halftime.

Markota and White traded baskets early in the second half as neither team was able to make any real progress. Mumbru changed that with a pair of three-pointers sandwiching 2 Zakhar Pashutin free throws as the Bilbao lead soared again. Banic took it past 20 points and later added free throws in a 9-0 push that made it 59-34. Levance Fields finally made his first basket for Spartak and Zozulin added a layup, but Bilbao was now firmly in control. Banic restored a 25-point margin Robert Conley added 2 more free throws before White’s free throw ended the third-quarter at 65-39. Spartak showed some fight as Kolensikov and White scored to start the last period, but in no time a Javi Salgado triple pushed Bilbao to 70-43. Zozulin continued to push for the visitors, but another Vazquez triple restored the home team’s dominance. In the closing minutes, St. Petersburg reeled off 9 straight points to make the final result more respectable, but the stronger team for the night was long clear.