Victory over Bayern in the XII Costa del Sol Tournament
Chus Mateo's team played a great game and will compete for the trophy tomorrow against Unicaja (7:30pm CEST).
Real Madrid overcame Bayern Munich in their debut in the XII Costa del Sol Tournament with a very convincing and scintillating game. Our team were superior to the German outfit and sealed the victory in the third quarter with a 17-2 run in four minutes. Despite being only the second preseason test and having important absentees, Chus Mateo's team performed at a high level during the 40 minutes with a great performance by Hezonja 16 of his 20 points in the first half and a dominant Campazzo 8 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. The trophy will be decided this Sunday against Unicaja 7:30pm CEST.
Madrid put on a good show against a Euroleague rival, coached by one of our past legends, Pablo Laso. Our team started with intensity in defence and great fluency in attack. Campazzo imposed a high tempo from the first minute and the team soon opened up a gap on the scoreboard, with Hezonja as the distinguishing factor. The forward, alongside Poirier for the first time, was unstoppable with 13 points three three-pointers in the opening quarter, which ended with a +7 in our favour 25-18. Edwards was Bayern's driving force with 6 points.
Madrid reacts to Bayern's thrust
The Germans improved offensively in the second quarter with the introduction of Weidemann, Kalu and Kharchenkov and turned the scoreline around in the 15th minute 30-32. But Campazzo's return to the court reactivated the team and halted Bayern's surge. Once again he showed his enormous influence on the game and, under his leadership 4 assists and 4 rebounds, Chus Mateo's team regained control of the game before the break with good work in the paint from Poirier 5 and another triple from Hezonja, the best of the first half with 16 points 41-36, min.20.
The pattern of the game would be repeated in the second half. When Madrid had some brilliant moments, being aggressive in defence and forceful on the counter-attack, they put their foot on the accelerator and took a double digit lead. But our opponents, who were more experienced than us, didn't let up and this time it was Booker who put up a fight, along with Edwards. The Germans put together several baskets in a row to make it 50-50 in the 26th minute.
Madrid bring down the axe
However, our team was patient and drew upon their depth. Their response was swift and devastating. The remaining four minutes of the quarter turned into a Madrid whirlwind. Causeur scored in one of his streaks 10 points almost in a row, Deck joined in on the scoring and Sergio Rodríguez finished off a three-pointer from more than eight metres for a 17-2 lead to close the third quarter 67-52. Bayern could not keep up with Chus Mateo's team, who in the final stretch managed a significant difference with a lot of bench rotation and quality minutes from the reserve players to finish the game with Egor, Hugo González, Mitar, Ismaila and Ndiaye 85-65, min.40.
85-Real Madrid 25+16+26+18: Campazzo 8, Musa 15, Hezonja 20, Ndiaye 4, Poirier 9 -starting five- Causeur 12, Mitar 0, Sergio Rodríguez 6, Hugo González 0, Egor 0, Deck 7 and Ismaila 4.
65-Bayern 18+18+16+13: Edwards 14, Bolmaro 3, Weiler-Babb 4, Guillespie 2 and Brankovic 2 –starting five- Weidemann 7, Wimberg 2, Harris 3, Darden 0, Kalu 9, Booker 8 and Kharchenkov 11.