Halcones evens series with home win over Nacional

XALAPA (Mexico) – Halcones de Xalapa defended their home court, defeating Nacional 105-104 Saturday night in double overtime to even their Basketball Champions League Americas Quarterfinal series.

With the win, the Mexican club forced a Game 3, to be played Sunday night, once again at Gimnasio Universitario.

Turning point: A game that had as many as 12 lead changes and where both teams were on the verge of winning multiple tiples had, unsurprisingly, a high number of inflection points.

Halcones led by 13 points in the second quarter before Nacional came back to send the game to overtime. The Uruguayans then led by 8 points in the first extra period before Jordan Glynn heroically tied it on a buzzer-beater.

Nacional was ahead again during most of the second overtime period and led 104-102 in the final minute before veteran guard Paul Stoll drained one of his signature long-range bombs to put Halcones ahead for good.

Player of the Game: Tjader Fernández led the way for Halcones with 28 points on 9/20 from the field, including 4/8 from long distance. He also hit 3 clutch free throws in the second overtime period, and added 3 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal to his stat line.

Rasid Mahabalsic (13 points and 8 rebounds) and Fabian Jaimes (11 points and 7 boards) were also important throughout the game, while Stoll provided the heroics alongside his 11 points and 12 assists.

Nacional had 6 different players scoring in double digits, led by Jordan Matthews’ 19.

Eric Anderson contributed 18 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks and had a game-high 27 efficiency score.

Franco Giorgetti (17 points and 6 rebounds), Sebastián Ottonello (12), Demián Álvarez (11) and Alejandro Acosta (10) also scored in double digits for the visitors.

Stats don’t lie: In a game where they shot 42 percent and their opponent 55.7 percent, Halcones managed to tip the scales on the offensive glass and taking care of the ball, finishing with half as many turnovers as their opponent (9 vs. 18).

Their 20 offensive rebounds allowed them to have a 24-6 edge in second-chance points. The Mexican club had a staggering 27 more field goal attempts than Nacional.

They also shot slightly better from downtown, going 14/45 (31.1 percent) while Nacional made only 6/30.

Bottom line: Halcones will try on Sunday to become the first Mexican club to reach BCLA’s Final 4.

Nacional will also be looking to make history, since a win would mark the first time 2 teams from Uruguay reached the Final 4 on the same season. Hebraica awaits after shocking SESI Franca on Saturday.

FIBA