Franca took off against Sao Paulo in Game 1

The top-seeded team in the Brazilian NBB, Franca, came up clutch in Game 1 at home in the Semi-Finals against Sao Paulo. Despite being down 4 points at the beginning of the last quarter, the home side managed to pull off the comeback with a more consistent performance throughout the deciding moments of the game. They started the 4th quarter with a sharper determination which allowed them to quickly erase the deficit and put them in the leading position.

Georginho De Paula led the way for the winning team with 28 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. Lucas Mariano added 21 points, sinking some clutch shots in the last minutes, thus helping his team prevail in the end. Vieira Marquinhos and Henrique Coelho also reached the 20-point mark for Sao Paulo, but their efforts came up short as nobody from the team came up big off the bench, which turned out to be decisive for the outcome of the game. The series is heading off to Sao Paulo for Games 2 & 3 as the runners-up from 2021 will try to even the score on Friday.