Aloe Plus Lanzarote Conejero continues to write golden pages in the history of the club by defeating CB Aridane in the semifinals of the promotion phase to the EBA League by 64 to 80 in a match where it had everything and that was defined in the last minutes.
The match began with absolute and overwhelming dominance of the team from La Palma, who took advantage of the weakness of the Lanzarote team both in defense and attack, due in part to the nerves that got the better of the orange players in the early stages, forcing Iván Fernández to call a time-out with just over three minutes played and with an advantage for Raquel Padrón's players by 12 to 2.
The time-out seemed to have no effect on the Lanzarote players, who continued to not show their characteristics, as they had done in the league. But as the minutes passed, the difference, which reached 13 points for the team from La Palma, was gradually reduced, reaching the end of the first quarter with the result of 20 to 12.
In the second quarter, Aloe Plus Lanzarote Conejero shed the label of inexperience with which they had taken to the court in the first quarter and began to play head-to-head with their rival, seeing a very even match, but with the team from La Palma having the inconvenience that several of their players were accumulating personal fouls and had to be "saved" by their coach to prevent them from being eliminated prematurely.
The orange team took good advantage of this circumstance to get closer on the scoreboard and manage, with just over a minute to go, to turn the score around and go to the break with an advantage, winning 33 to 38, after an exchange of baskets from both contenders.
The return to the court was dominated by the orange team, who managed to take Aridane off the court, scoring a partial score of 10 to 4 in five minutes, but without extinguishing the cheers of an enthusiastic crowd from La Palma who tried to lead their team to a comeback. But the Lanzarote team did not flinch under the external pressure and continued to play a great game, with a good percentage of success in outside shots. At the end of the quarter, the score reflected 47 to 56 in favor of the Arrecife team, who had in their favor not only the score, but also the nerves that were beginning to surface in the team from "la Isla Bonita", who not only had several players on the verge of elimination, but had already suffered some technical fouls.
But the matches between Aridane and Conejero this year are being even until the end and today was not going to be different considering what was at stake. Aridane tightened up on defense against the orange team and managed to bring out the inexperience that undermined the Lanzarote team at the beginning of the match, turning the score around in the first 5 minutes of the quarter, despite the team from La Palma even suffering an unsportsmanlike foul.
The equality was maintained as the minutes passed and, although the team from La Palma was losing players, they continued to show a lot of resistance. The intensity, which had led Aridane to the comeback, turned against them and some arbitration protests ended with technical fouls that allowed the Lanzarote team to separate on the scoreboard when they were winning by 3.
From the bench of Aloe Plus Lanzarote Conejero, tranquility was requested and a partial score of 0 to 16 was definitive for them to take the match with a more bulky score than what the match really was, a very disputed match and played head to head.
The Lanzarote team will play the final against CBA, who will play as local, and whoever wins that match will have earned the right to be promoted to the EBA League.
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