Dubai Basketball Achieve First Away EuroLeague Win in Convincing Style at Baskonia

1 day ago

1 day ago

Dubai Basketball Achieve First Away EuroLeague Win in Convincing Style at Baskonia

2026-10-14T01:34+04:00

Dubai Basketball logged their first away win of their EuroLeague campaign with a 79-93 victory over Baskonia in EuroLeague Round 5.

Tornike Shengelia, Mamadi Diakite and Davis Bertans suited up against their old team, Shengelia getting the start alongside McKinley Wright, Dwayne Bacon, Mfiondu Kabengele and Davion Mintz.

The first half swung back and forth with both sides mounting strong runs at different times. Dubai were immediately on the back foot, struggling to find their rhythm on offense and committing a couple of unforced turnovers to gift the home side easy points, Tadas Sedekerskis scoring nine quick points as part of an opening 14-2 run for the home side.

Whatever Head Coach Xavi Pascual said in the resulting timeout, it worked. Baskonia struggled to keep up as Dubai began playing more quickly and aggressively. The visitors mounted a 27-9 run to take a six point lead, with a pair of threes from Mintz and two strong dunks by Kabengele being the highlights. The side from Vitoria-Gasteiz were undeterred however, and Brazilian big man Marcio Santos added six quick points as part of a 14-4 counterpunch to bring the score within a point and the teams stayed neck and neck over the remaining five minutes. The half finished with Dubai leading 43-44 and their fans were treated to a soaring alley-oop jam from Mamadi Diakite off a precise Dwayne Bacon dish.

In the second half, Filip Petrusev earned the start over Tornike Shengelia and the Serbian forward contributed four quick points as part of an 11-2 run to start the period. With that run, Dubai grabbed a lead that they would never relinquish, taking good care of the ball in the remainder of the half and making improvements in rebounding from the first half. Elie Okobo took on the scoring mantle late in the third, logging ten points in four minutes either side of the break by which point Dubai had built a double digit lead. In the final quarter, Dubai made sure that the result was never in doubt and the visitors deserved their fourteen point margin of victory, improving their rebounding from the first half and taking good care of the ball with a season best eight turnovers. The game finished 79-93, improving Dubai's EuroLeague win-loss record to 3-2.

Dubai had five scorers in double figures, led by Filip Petrusev with 17, closely followed by Mfiondu Kabengele who added 10 rebounds to go with his 16 points. Dwayne Bacon logged 15 points and 5 assists and Elie Okobo 14 points and 4 assists. Mamadi Diakite added 11 points in just 13 minutes on an efficient night for the visitors.

Dubai Head Coach Xavi Pascual commented on the teams’ performance saying, "It was a very important win for us after the defeat at home. It was a game that we didn't start well. The first four minutes we start very soft and without the right mentality. But from this moment the game changed completely and in the second half I think we played very well defensively and offensively and we could close this game with only eight turnovers, twenty assists and in general we have to be happy for the night."

Dubai Basketball now have a quick turnaround, with their round six game against EA7 Olimpia Milano in Italy on 15 October before heading back to Coca-Cola Arena for their home game against SC Derby in ABA League.