Spanish Cup quarterfinals, Day 1: February 19, 2009 - SPAIN

May 25, 2013

Spanish Cup quarterfinals, Day 1: February 19, 2009

Juan Carlos Navarro - Regal FC Barcelona

Two of the top teams in the Euroleague this season, Tau Ceramica and Regal FC Barcelona, will face off in the Spanish Cup semifinals after acing their quarterfinal tournament openers in Madrid on Thursday. The classic Spanish derby opened up the Copa del Rey in spectacular fashion as Barcelona posted a masterful 75-83 victory over archrival Real Madrid. Three-point barrages at opportune moments kept Barcelona ahead practically the entire game. Juan Carlos Navarro ruled the court from long distance, makng 6 of 8 three-point shots for 27 points and 10 assists to lead the winners. Barcelona finished having hit 13 of 31 three-pointers as compared to 6 of 17 for Madrid. A late 16-2 run made a close game look easy as Tau defeated Pamesa Valencia 82-66 in Thursday's second quarterfinal. It was 61-59 with under 6 minutes left when Tau reeled off 11 unanswered points to put the game away. Tiago Splitter rose to the occasion, despite recent injury and family tragedy, with 20 points and 10 rebounds for the winners, while Sergi Vidal added 17 off the bench. The semifinals are Saturday at the Sports Palace in Madrid.

Ersan Ilyasova and Felipe Reyes got the scoring going and both teams traded baskets until Ilyasova and Navarro's 0-6 run put Barcelona up 8-15, forcing a Madrid timeout. Pepe Sanchez made the right passes after that, including an end-of-quarter dunk by Tomas Van den Spiegel, to keep Madrid as close as 19-23 after a quarter. Dunks by Van den Spiegel and Jeremiah Massey let Madrid tie 23-23 but Barcelona stayed ahead by a step until triples by Navarro and Victor Sada reestablished a six-point lead, 38-44, at the half. Dueling triples by Ilyasova and Louis Bullock kept things close after the break, but soon Fran Vazquez dunked alone and Navarro downed a "bomba" and the free throw for the game's first double-digit lead, 43-54. Gianluca Basile pushed it to 12 points with an amazing banked-in triple, but Bulllock cut it to 52-59 with his own, equally remarkable, over two defenders. Bulllock's next was better, coming with a foul shot for a four-point play, as Madrid drew within 59-64 after three quarters. Basile and Navarro, twice, struck from the arc to make it 63-73 early in the final quarter. After a Madrid timeout, Navarro did it again, for a 13-point lead entering the last 5 minutes. When Navarro hit his sixth three-pointer on the three-minute mark, the lead was 68-79. Madrid cut it to 6 points again on back-to-back triples by Alex Mumbru and Axel Hervelle, but a final basket by Vazquez ended the suspense. Ilyasova added 14 points and Vazquez 13 for Barcelona. Madrid was paced by Bullock with 22 points, while Reyes had 16, Van den Spiegel and Hervelle 10 each.

Tiago Splitter - Tau Ceramica

Pamesa's defense starred early, stopping Tau at every turn after Pete Mickeal opened the scoring. Pamesa's 0-10 response started and ended with triples by Williams. By the time Matt Nelson scored and then rejected Mickeal at the rim, Pamesa led 6-18. Mirza Teletovic saved the quarter for Tau with a triple, a shot that fell in from the top of the backboard and his assist off an offensive rebound to Vidal for a triple, but Pamesa still ruled 16-22. Vidal's next triple and Teletovic's fastbreak jam got Tau within a basket before Nelson canned a jumper and assisted Kosta Perovic at 22-28. Splitter gave Tau its second lead on a three-point play at 28-29 and another with back-to-back putbacks of offensive rebounds at 33-32. Pamesa's last word, however, was a Rafa Martinez triple to hold a 33-35 advantage at the break. Tau freed Igor Rakocevic for a triple to take back the lead right after halftime. There would be three more ties and four more lead changes before duelling triples by Teletovic and Ermal Kuqo left Tau leading 54-50 after 30 minutes. Kuqo opened the fourth with a rainbow triple, too, but Vlado Ilievski went deeper and Rakocevic pushed Tau's lead to 6 points. It was 61-59, after a Florent Pietrus dunk for Pamesa, when the key sequence saw Mickeal down twin baseline jumpers and Splitter an offensive rebound at 68-59 with 4 minutes left. After a timeout, Vidal came out to hit a corner triple and a backdoor dunk before Splitter hit a free throw and Mickeal a pair as the lead stretched to 77-61 and Tau started making plans for Saturday. Mickeal and Teletovic added 12 points each for the winners while Rakocevic had 10. Pablo Prigioni had 6 assists and 5 steals. Perovic scored 13 points for Pamesa, Williams 11 and Kuqo 10.

Spanish Cup Copa del Rey, February 19-22, 2009
Quarterfinals	Real Madrid vs. Regal Barcelona	75-83	Feb. 19
	Tau Ceramica vs. Pamesa Valencia	82-66	Feb. 19
	Unicaja vs. Kalise Gran Canaria	0-0	Feb. 20
	MMT Estudiantes vs. DKV Joventut	0-0	Feb. 20
Semifinals	Regal Barcelona vs. Tau Ceramica	0-0	Feb. 21
Semifinals	Semifinal 2	0-0	Feb. 21
Final	Final	0-0	Feb. 22