Jasiel Rivero

Havana, December 2 (ACN)-- With 22 points and six rebounds, Cuban Jasiel Rivero led the Spanish club Valencia Basket to reach its fifth victory in the Euroleague basketball tournament, considered the highest level tournament of that sport in the so-called Old Continent.

Rivero led the Valencians to defeat Partizan Belgrade 100-96 as visitors, in a duel in which he played 21 minutes and five seconds.

In the Stark Arena stadium, in Serbia, the locals dominated the first half with a score of 43-37, and after the break the Taronja team won 23-21 and 24-20 in the third and fourth periods, respectively, to force overtime.

In that instance, the winners were superior 16-12 to take an important victory and now have a balance of five wins and six losses in a tournament that brings together 18 teams.

For Valencia Basket, James Webb (18 points), Xabier López-Arostegui (17) and Jared Harper (14) stood out on offense, while on the other side Mathias Lessort (22), Kevin Punter (19) and James Nunnally (15) were outstanding.

Turning to the collective statistics, the winners were better under the boards with the capture of 27 rebounds, seven more than their rivals; and in free throws they achieved an excellent effectiveness of 90.5 percent, thanks to 19 shots scored in 21 attempts.

As for field goals, the Serbian club scored 57.9 percent, thanks to 33 baskets in 57 shots at the rim, while the visitors finished with 56.1 percent (37/66), according to the official site of the tournament.

So far in the Euroleague, Turkish Fenerbache is leading with nine wins and just one loss, followed by Spanish Barcelona and French Monaco, both with 8-3 records, closing the leading trio.