On Saturday night the Spanish side San Pablo Burgos, winners of the 2019-2020 Basketball Champions League, beat Argentinian side and BCL Americas champions Quimsa, 82-73. The FIBA Intercontinental Cup Final, which was held in Buenos Aires, was claimed by Burgos thanks to a great first half on the offensive end (54 points scored). Vitor Benite had 19, Thad McFadden 16 and Dejan Kravic 12.
Quimsa reached the Intercontinental Cup behind a superb showing in the inaugural season of Basketball Champions League Americas, in which they rallied down 17 to win their Semi-Final before beating Flamengo in the Final.
In this matchup against Burgos, BCL America’s MVP Brandon Robinson led the show with 25 points on 8-of-18 shooting while Diamon Simpson added nine points and 10 rebounds. Fabian Ramirez was held in check with only four total points.
Vitor Benite, a 6ft4in guard from Brazil, scored 19 points in just over 27 minutes while nailing 5 three pointers to keep the Argentine club out of range of a late fourth-quarter comeback. He was named the MVP of the game.
Quimsa’s Brandon Robinson was the leading scorer in the game with 25, but when Benite gets going for Burgos – as he did on Saturday – the team becomes nearly unstoppable on offense.
Whenever Robinson and his squad had an answer, it seemed like Benite was the one to deliver and attempt to stop all the momentum. That was the case even as Quimsa rallied out of a 26-point third-quarter hole to make it just a five-point game in the fourth quarter.
“You have to give credit to Quimsa,” he said after achieving the award. “We did incredible in the first half, but they have a lot of quality and it was difficult to maintain that lead.”
The difference in the game though was Benite’s ability to stretch the defense and make shots consistently from beyond the arc. That in turn created open lanes for fellow guard Thad McFadden to attack off the bounce and for Dejan Kravic to operate in the paint with limited double teams.
“I’m happy because we achieved the goal,” Benite said. “On this team, everyone can contribute.”
This may be Benite’s first MVP in the ICC, but when he played with Flamengo back in 2014, his team was crowned champions over Maccabi Electra in this same event. His success at the international level extends far beyond the ICC, though, as the shooting guard is a three-time Brazilian League champion, a two-time Brazilian League Sixth Man of the Year and was awarded Brazilian League’s Most Improved Player back in 2011.
Spanish clubs won the competition for two consecutive seasons, after Tenerife won it last year in the final against Virtus Segafredo Bologna.
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