Gladiators beat Marinos and became the sole leader of the Super Round

Michael Carrera is one of the great figures of Gladiators in the Super Round / Photo: Gladiators Press

Gladiadores de Anzoátegui beat Marinos de Oriente on Sunday with a score of 81-75 and became the sole leader of the Super Round of the Professional Basketball Super League (SPB) 2024.

The team led by Ronald Guillén took advantage of the hierarchy of the current champion and was able to win a match that remained even, held at the Rutaca Sport Arena in Maturín, Monagas state.

With this result, La Armadura reached nine points in the league table and has a record of four wins and one loss, which keeps it as the favorite to win one of the two tickets to the final.

Parity

The main feature of the match on Monagas soil was the equality until the final seconds. Unlike the first duel between Gladiadores and Marinos, where the former took a comfortable lead before the end of the first half, on this occasion everything was decided in the last two minutes.

The Eastern Battleship started off winning the match. In the first few moments, it took advantage of the rival’s erratic behaviour and won the first quarter.

In the second period, the visitors began to make adjustments and took control of the scoreboard to go into the break winning 43-38. In the third quarter, everything remained even and the home team could only reduce the gap by one point, entering the final 10 minutes.

In the last act, the naval team began to close the gap and were even ahead for a few seconds on the scoreboard. However, three consecutive possessions in which they were unable to score gave Gladiadores the impetus to go ahead again and materialize the victory.

Michael Carrera was decisive in the confrontation, as was Puerto Rican Jezreel de Jesús. The Barcelona native finished with 19 points and six rebounds, while the foreigner recorded 15 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Tabla

The round-robin table remains tight after Sunday’s match. La Armadura is leading, but there is a three-way tie for second place between Guaiqueríes de Margarita, Trotamundos de Carabobo and Cocodrilos de Caracas. All with seven points, although La Tribu has one game less.

Marinos is last with 1-4 and six points, with few options to return to a final of Venezuelan professional basketball.

Puerto La Cruz / Javier A. Guaipo