Aloe Plus Lanzarote Conejero had reached the final of the Liga EBA Promotion Phase after defeating CB Aridane, second classified in the regular league, and now they had to face the champion of the regular phase and organizer of the phase, the CBA.
The match was not going to be easy. Playing face to face was a mistake because nobody hides the quality of the individual players, so they had to do what they had been doing so far, play as a team.
The players from Gran Canaria started very well, covering the reference player in attack of the orange team, Cándido Matoso. This hurt the Lanzarote team, which could hardly count on one of its fundamental pillars. If we add to that the nerves of the first moments of the match and a noisy pavilion that encouraged both teams (more the home team, logically), it made it a match to get used to quickly.
Without the possibility of playing inside, with numerous failures in counterattacks and with a very well-placed defense, the attack of Iván Fernández's team involved changing and looking for the outside game where the Lanzarote players were much less guarded.
The figure of Raúl Rodríguez appeared to score two three-pointers and keep his team in the game, while the "academics" remained strong in defense and unleashed in attack. At the end of the quarter, the CBA defeated Conejero 12 to 24.
In the second quarter, Iván brought out the "unblocker" Pedro Hernández. His vision of the game got Conejero into the match against Aridane and again this 17-year-old boy would have the magic formula to put the key to the match and conduct it with mastery. If they didn't let Cándido play, he looked for Juan Vivas. And if the CBA strengthened the inside game, he prepared the ground for Cécimo Armas to take out his "hot wrist" and, based on three-pointers, put fear into the body of his rival, who asked for a time-out to alleviate the break that an "insolent child" had made with a crack game.
After the time-out, the CBA decides to take more care of Cécimo's game, but he had already given the recipe to Raúl and another three-pointer fell. Meanwhile, Cándido did what he could with the marking he had on top, which benefited Fran Suárez, who wanted to show that having reached Granca or Real Madrid was no coincidence and put on his tails to collect pending debts with basketball, ending a dream quarter, despite still being below on the scoreboard, 38 to 40.
The beginning of the third quarter, it seemed that only the Arrecife players were on the court. The CBA was not there, but it was expected. Fran Suárez sent them a triple that ended in the basket of points, Raúl Rodríguez sent him another with the same ending, Cécimo Armas did not want to be less.....and even Fernando Obiang made his debut in the promotion phase by placing another from the three-point line. The players from Gran Canaria were missing and the Lanzarote players were overwhelming.
New time-out of the white team to end the bleeding of the outside shot and.....Cándido Matoso appeared who, tired of fighting without the prizes of the points, also began to give his recital. Conejero was up by as many as 18 points and, despite the fact that the fans of the Tafira team were still cheerful, it was the Lanzarote fans who were euphoric, those who were carrying their team, those who were enjoying the adventure. The quarter ended with the result of 63 to 50.
The last quarter started well for the Lanzarote players but, perhaps victims of nervousness or fatigue, or perhaps a combination of both, the CBA began to stretch lines, to press very high, to try to suffocate the Lanzarote game, managing to reduce the difference. Iván Fernández asked for a time-out, not to change anything, but to reassure his players. Nothing had been achieved, although they were on the way. The "veterans" brought out their gift of command. Fran Suárez harangued his teammates, Cándido encouraged them, Cécimo was clashing them with all of them. Conejero had to be a pineapple until the end. Those who were wearing the L like Howie Roka, Gregory Montilla or Antonio Lima did not stop moving on the bench victims of nerves, while Nauzet Flores or César Hernández asked for the last breath of their fans.
They returned to the court and opted for the logical thing, to play as a team. The ball lasted an eternity for Conejero. They had enough advantage to move the ball as much as they wanted and then defend as a block in search of the forced error of the rival. That's what they did. They moved the CBA on the court, who could not take the ball away from them and who lost N´Guessam due to personal fouls. Some orange baskets and a good defense, allowed the ball to change hands or that the desperate shot of the rival went to limbo.
So the minutes passed and when there were less than 50 seconds left, the orange bench already saw itself as the winner. Federico Toledo, assistant to Iván Fernández and Gustavo Zamora in the first team and author of the only promotion to EBA that there was on the island, got up from his seat and began to congratulate and thank each and every one of the players, as well as the coaching staff. Gustavo hugged Iván and the players were already experiencing one more step in their career. There was some change in those seconds that went from being "garbage" to being "glory". The faces of the players who left were difficult to define. They were about to cry, but also to laugh. Nervous, but calm. Happy but......but happy.
And the CBA leaves the ball on the ground and decides that it was over. Conejero appreciated it. The score of 84 to 68 broke the statistic that Conejero had never won against the CBA in Gran Canaria, but it broke more....it broke a drought of years without national basketball and broke, the players broke down crying. Cándido Matoso had confessed to being nervous since Saturday, Pedro had not slept last night, others did not believe it, some were looking for their friends in the stands, others the photo for the memory, but all......absolutely all, to "their father" on the bench, to Iván Fernández, who they bathed with a bottle of water, who they tossed in the air and who tried to stay out of the celebrations without succeeding.
He was looking for his fellow sufferers. To the club's managers, to his colleagues on the bench, to all those who had trusted in that project that was born a few years ago with the victories box at 0 and the defeats complete.
It was the party of Conejero, of the team of Arrecife that, without making noise, with a project of future turning a deaf ear to those who called them "crazy" has managed to put Lanzarote in the national calendar of senior men's basketball on its own merits. The Aloe Plus Lanzarote Conejeros, is a team of the EBA League.
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