NIKE IJT Madrid 2008, report: AXA FC Barcelona 66-65 Cibona Zagreb
|
The second day of the Nike International Tournament started in the same way it started yesterday. AXA FC Barcelona once again earned a close win, this time a 66-65 triumph over Cibona Zagreb, who for the second time in a row couldn't convert in the last possession as wished. AXA climb to 2-0 and will fight for a spot in the finals tomorrow while Cibona is down to 0-2 and will look for a consolation win tomorrow against Red Star. Papa Abdoulaye shinned today with 15 points, eight rebounds and eight blocks, Daniel Perez once again showed his great feel for the game with 14 points and nine assists while Alejandro Hernandez displayed his all around skills with 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Tomislav Zubcic registered his second double-double here with 17 points and ten rebounds, big guy Leon Radosevic added 17 as well, long distance shooter Goran Fodor hit 14 while Dragan Sekelja scored 13 with seven boards.
The long Senegalese big guy Abdoulaye had a good start but an athletic Zubcic put Cibona on top 14-16 after one quarter. Sekelja used his big body and shooting skills to score far and close from the basket as Cibona climbed to 20-26 with three minutes to go in the half, but AXA shut down the rim and until the half time break made a 6-2 run to stay only two points down, 26-28, at the break. AXA returned more focused to the second half as Perez, Abdoulaye and Hernandez led a big 15-0 run and took an 11 point lead. Cibona pushed the ball inside the finish the third quarter down by only seven, and despite Zubcic suffered from a missed shots streak he recovered in time and with four points in a row made it just a six point game again, 56-50 with five minutes on the clock. Along with Sekelja Cibona kept the pressure on and entered the last minute down 64-61. Hernandez missed a lay up and at the other end Zubcic slashed to the rim and left a big assist for an easy Radosevic dunk and set the margin on a single point with 25.4 seconds on the game clock. Fernandez was perfect on the line at the other end 14 seconds later, and in the key possession Cibona only found the way to shoot for two points by Sekelja with two seconds on the clock, and that was too few and too late to change the result.
|
|
Euroleague.net
|