Friends give excellent replica to Azoreans

The CAB and Lusitânia played the first game of the finals of the Men's League playoff in Funchal. The series is played at the best of five games, and the team that beats the mid-final is the one that wins first three games. The first two games are held in Funchal and the next two games are in the Azores. The fifth game, if necessary, will be held in the CAB Pavilion. The CAB presented itself to the game without its trio of American players, who returned to the United States this week as a result of a forced decision to the club for the serious financial restrictions that are being imposed on all regional sport. The Friends entered the field, so only with Portuguese players, who together are in charge of completing the CAB season, something they will do, we are sure, with immense delivery, motivation and commitment. The first period was extremely balanced, with teams reaching the end of the first ten minutes with the marker in 16-19, in favor of visitors. Certainly, the team in the Azores did not expect such a fierce CAB, which, in the first half, was exemplary in the defensive chapter and very consistent in the attack, with intelligent launch solutions. In the second period, Lusitania was punctually superior to the CAB (17-18), but the house team was once again in a large position, offering a large replica, either at the level of delivery to the game, or as much as they were making the Azoreans fight to outperform themselves. The break came with the scorer in 33-37, but it was evident to everyone present and to those watching the game via ‘Live Stream’ that the CAB team was playing excellent basketball and demonstrating great group spirit. In the part of the house, the main reference was Jorge Coelho and Jorge Freitas, who reached the interval with 17 points and 9 points, respectively in the visitors, was James Smith, with 13 points, who scored the most. In the third period, the CAB entered very strongly and dominated the opponent. At this stage, the house members were in front of the marker by 44-42. However, as expected, as the third time progressed, the physical wear of the CAB became evident. The accumulation of minutes in the legs of men playing in red and the absence of rotation were factors skillfully exploited by Lusitania, which in the second part of the third period began to extend the distance to the CAB and reached the end of time to win by 46-54. In the fourth and final period, tiredness totally took over the house team, who, even so, never lowered his arms and gave a true lesson of delivery and personality to those who followed the meeting. Despite Lusitania's greatest physical freshness, the CAB never gave up the game and fought until the last second. However, Lusitania, with more options and greater physical freshness, won the meeting by 61-72. A final note of merited recognition for ‘our boys’. Throughout the whole time, the great sense of human identity and verticality that they have demonstrated has already become the mark of these men who defend our shirt. The way in which they gave themselves to the game today, at such a difficult time in the history of the club, represents, for the entire club, a true example that must be respected and cherished. Regardless of the results, they're our champions. In individual terms: Nuno Sousa, Roberto Rodrigues, Carlos Bettencourt, Jorge Freitas (14), João Jardim, Edson Rosario (7), Fabio Lima (11), Jorge Coelho (25) and Frederico Tavares (4).