Halcones claim second win in two days

PUERTO LA CRUZ (Venezuela) – After getting their first win of Basketball Champions League Americas action on Sunday, Halcones continued their momentum and left all teams in Group A at 2-2 after they defeated Gladiadores 92-74 at Gimnasio Luis Ramos on Monday night.

The two teams kept it close in the first quarter as Gregory Vargas and Anthony Perez led the charge for Gladiadores while Jordan Glynn led Halcones, as the two teams changed leads three times before Gladiadores took a slight 27-24 lead.

Halcones made the most of the second quarter to get it to swing their way, as they held Gladiadores to 14 points while Gabriel Giron and David Cubillan also added to the scoring, with Glynn leading Halcones on the boards.

Nestor Colmenares added 6 points for Gladiadores, but Halcones won the battle for the quarter with their defense, recording four steals by the half and getting 6 points from turnovers and 4 on the fast break.

A 7-point quarter from Alexis Elsener and 5 points each from Daniel Bejerano and Tjader Fernandez headlined a breakthrough quarter for Halcones as they outscored Gladiadores 29-15, shooting 54 percent from the floor.

Forcing Gladiadores to be flustered and make mistakes, Halcones forced them to make 7 turnovers resulting in 11 points while also grabbing 5 more steals. The Halcones bench also made the difference, outscoring Gladiadores 25-12 through three quarters.

With a 15-point gap at 71-56, Gladiadores would have to have a big fourth quarter, but the momentum was on Halcones side as five different players all scored in double digits in the win with Davon Jefferson and Rasid Mahalbasic controlling the boards.

Jordan Crawford had an 8-point quarter for Galdiadores while Perez put in one last push adding 7 points, but it was not enough to take down Halcones or cut into the deficit created in the third quarter.

Ultimately, the turnovers would be the killer for Gladiadores, who committed 16 turnovers leading to 24 points total for Halcones, who also grabbed 13 steals compared to just 3 for Gladiadores.

Halcones also had the advantage as they got hot from deep, shooting 45.83 percent from beyond the arc good for 33 points from deep compared to just 7-of-25 shooting from deep for Gladiadores.

Giron led Halcones with 17 points and 4 steals while Elsener and Glynn each added 15 points, with Elsener adding 3 steals and Glynn grabbing 5 rebounds.

Perez led Gladiadores with 19 points and 6 rebounds, as Vargas added 16 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists.

FIBA