Spanish League, Regular Season, Game 18: January 17-18, 2009 - SPAIN

June 19, 2013

Spanish League, Regular Season, Game 18: January 17-18, 2009

Another weekend, another win for Tau Ceramica, that keeps leading the Spanish League standings with a 16-1 record by beating ViveMenorca 78-66 in Vitoria on Sunday behind 21 points from Igor Rakocevic. Regal FC Barcelona is now second with a 13-4 record while three teams - Unicaja, Real Madrid and DKV Joventut - tie for third place at 12-5. Regal FCB survived a tough battle by edging DKV Joventut 64-68 in Badalona on Saturday. Juan Carlos Navarro led the winners with 18 points. Meanwhile, Madrid confirmed its good moment by downing Unicaja 90-78 in the Spanish capital on Sunday. Louis Bullock led Madrid with 25 points against his former team. In Valencia, Pamesa downing CAI Zaragoza 81-72 also on Sunday. Matt Nielsen scored all the key points in the final 2 minutes. Meanwhile, iurbentia Bilbao Basket moved up to 7-10 by overwhelming MMT Estudiantes 99-65 at home on Sunday behind 15 points from Marko Banic. In other games, Ricoh Manresa edged end-of-the-table Cajasol 64-71, CB Granada upset Bruesa GBC 80-87 while Alta Gestion Fuenlabrada topped CB Murcia 70-78 behind 29 points from Brad Oleson.

Regal FC Barcelona took the classic Catalonian derby in the Spanish League by edging DKV Joventut 64-68 in Badalona on Saturday. Barcelona improved to 13-4 to stay second while Joventut dropped to 12-5. Navarro led the winners with 18 points while Ersan Ilyasova added 11 and 14 rebounds for Barcelona. Pau Ribas had 11 points for Joventut, that led 33-31 at halftime. A 0-10 run that Navarro capped with a triple gave Barcelona a 42-47 margin late in the third quarter. Joventut rallied with a 1-3-1 zone defense and regained the lead, 56-55, on a dunk-and-foul by Edu Hernandez-Sonseca. It all came down to the final 20 seconds, in which free throws by Navarro and a fast break layup by Roger Grimau sealed the outcome. Real Madrid confirmed its good moment by downing Unicaja 90-78 in the Spanish capital on Sunday. Both teams tie for third place at 12-5. Bullock led the winners with 25 points. Felipe Reyes added 16 while Jeremiah Massey had 14 for Madrid. Robert Archibald led Unicaja with 15 points. Berni Rodriguez added 13 while Marcus Haislip had 12 for the guests, that led 49-53 midway through the third quarter. Madrid improved its defense with an outstanding Sergio Llull while Bullock stepped up to help the hosts to make it a double-digit game, 72-62, after 10 minutes. Bullock followed free throws with a seven-meter bomb to seal the outcome, 79-62, as Unicaja never recovered.

Tau Ceramica stayed atop everyone else at 16-1 by beating ViveMenorca 78-66 in Vitoria on Sunday. Rakocevic led the winners with 21 points. Tiago Splitter added 15 while Pete Mickeal had 11 for Tau, that trailed 21-23 after 10 minutes. An outstanding Mirza Teletovic led a 14-2 run that put Tau ahead for good, 35-25. ViveMenorca managed to get within 69-64 with under 3 minutes to go but Mickeal stepped up to seal the outcome. iurbentia Bilbao Basket moved up to 7-10 by overwhelming MMT Estudiantes 99-65 at home on Sunday. Banic paced the winners with 15 points. Paco Vazquez added 13 while Drago Pasalic and Predrag Savovic each had 11 in an easy home win for Bilbao Basket, that led 46-31 at halftime and boosted its margin to 72-42 after 30 minutes to seal the outcome. Pamesa improved to 10-8 by downing CAI Zaragoza 81-72 in Valencia also on Sunday. Shammond Williams led the way for Pamesa with 15 points. Nielsen added 14, Kosta Perovic had 13 while Rafa Martinez got 10 for the winners, that trailed 66-68 with 4 minutes to go. Nielsen had 6 points in a 8-2 run that put Pamesa ahead for good, 74-70. Free throws by Perovic and Nielsen sealed the outcome down the stretch.

LAST GAME GAME 18 January 17-18, 2009
Day	Match	Result
Jan. 18	Pamesa vs. CAI Zaragoza	81-72
Jan. 18	CB Murcia vs. Fuenlabrada	70-78
Jan. 17	DKV Joventut vs. Regal FCB	64-68
Jan. 18	iurbentia vs. Estudiantes	99-65
Jan. 18	TAU Cer. vs. ViveMenorca	78-66
Jan. 17	Cajasol vs. Ricoh Manresa	64-71
Jan. 18	Real Madrid vs. Unicaja	90-78
Jan. 18	Bruesa GBC vs. C.B. Granada	80-87
	Kalise Gran Canaria (free)

NEXT GAME GAME 19 January 21-22, 2009
Day	Match
Jan. 21	Estudiantes vs. DKV Joventut
Jan. 21	Regal FCBarcelona vs.Murcia
Jan. 21	Unicaja vs. Cajasol
Jan. 21	Fuenlabrada vs. Pamesa V.
Jan. 21	Ricoh vs. TAU Cerámica
Jan. 22	C.B. Granada vs. Real Madrid
Jan. 22	ViveMenorca vs. iurbentia
Jan. 22	CAI vs. Kalise Gran Canaria
	Bruesa GBC (free)

	STANDINGS	TG	W	L	P+	P-
1	TAU Cerámica	17	16	1	1495	1260
2	Regal F.C. Barcelona	17	13	4	1295	1170
3	Unicaja	17	12	5	1387	1222
4	Real Madrid	17	12	5	1422	1332
5	DKV Joventut	17	12	5	1399	1335
6	Kalise Gran Canaria	16	10	6	1291	1250
7	Pamesa Valencia	17	10	7	1299	1276
8	Ricoh Manresa	17	9	8	1215	1237
9	ALTA GESTIÓN Fuenlabrada	17	8	9	1396	1370
10	CB Granada	16	7	9	1180	1238
11	iurbentia Bilbao Basket	17	7	10	1300	1316
12	Bruesa GBC	16	6	10	1218	1289
13	ViveMenorca	17	5	12	1216	1280
14	MMT Estudiantes	17	5	12	1287	1370
15	CAI Zaragoza	17	5	12	1300	1405
16	CB Murcia	17	4	13	1230	1420
17	Cajasol	17	2	15	1249	1409