Jasiel Rivero to another Final 8 of European basketball

April 1, 2021

The Cuban Jasiel Rivero will be in the Final 8 of the Basketball Champions League of Europe with the Spanish club Hereda San Pablo Burgos, champion of the previous season.

The Burgos team obtained their ticket from group J by defeating today 83-71 Igokea of Bosnia and Herzegovina to reach their fourth victory with only one loss, a record that the losers cannot aspire to with their 2-3 nor can the VEF Riga (0-4) of Latvia.

In this bracket only the first place remains to be defined between the Castilians and their Canarian compatriots from Lenovo Tenerife (4-1), in a challenge scheduled for the coming 6th at the Santiago Martín Arena in the city of San Cristóbal de la Laguna.

Rivero this Thursday at the Coliseum of Burgos scored eight points and captured 10 rebounds to deserve the third best rating with 18, the same as Brazilian captain Vitor Benite, both behind American naturalized Bosnian Alex Renfroe (24) and Serbian Dejan Kravic (22).

Those led by Joan Peñarroya came out to decide at home an advance among the best eight. From the start with collective work they won the first three quarters 29-17, 17-12 and 20-19, an advantage that led them only to secure success in the final 17-23.

For the new final today others were confirmed such as Hapoel Unet-Credit Holon of Israel for section I, as well as the equally Iberian Casademont Zaragoza and the Greek ERA Nymburg for section L.

Earlier the Russian Nizhny Novgorod had done so for section K.

The culminating phase will take place in the first week of May in a venue yet to be announced. In the 2019-2020 version those from Burgos prevailed, with Jasiel in his first time, against the Greek AEK Athens.

Technical sheet:

Hereda San Pablo Burgos, 83: Alex Renfroe (10), Vitor Benite (19), Xavi Rabaseda (5), Jasiel Rivero (8) and Dejan Kravic (16) –starting five– Thad McFadden (7), Max Salash (8), Álex Barrera (3), Jordan Sakho (0), Ken Horton (7), Kareem Queeley (0), Ángel Infante (0). Benite was eliminated due to five personal fouls.

Igokea, 71: Anthony Clemmons (19), Edin Atic (5), Dalibor Ilic (4), Jackie Carmichael (2) and Marko Josilo (-) –starting five– Nikola Jovanovic (9), Steven Gray (15), Stefan Simanic (0), Darko Talic (12), Stefan Pot (5), Kosta Kondic (0), Stefan Fundic (0).