Spanish League, Regular Season, Game 26: March 14-15, 2009 - SPAIN

February 07, 2012

Spanish League, Regular Season, Game 26: March 14-15, 2009

iurbentia Bilbao Basket provided the biggest surprise in the Spanish League this week by beating regular season leaders by downing Tau Ceramica in front of 11,500 fans at Bizkaia Arena on Sunday. Bilbao improved to 11-14 while Tau dropped to 21-3. Salva Guardia led the winners with 17 points. Damir Markota and Marko Banic each added 14 while Tiago Splitter was the only Tau player in double digits with 10 points. FC Barcelona did not find much trouble to thrash ViveMenorca 86-61 at home on Sunday, improving to 20-4 in the league table. Fran Vazquez paced the winners with 23 points and 9 rebounds. Real Madrid stayed third now with a 18-6 record by downing CB Murcia 77-88 on the road on Sunday behind 21 points from Sergio Llull. Unicaja improved to 18-7 by beating CAI Zaragoza 64-74 on the road on Saturday with 20 points from Boni Ndong. Pamesa Valencia moved up to 14-11 by beating Bruesa GBC 75-66 at home on Saturday. Rafa Martinez led the way for Pamesa with 15 points. Carl English had 20 points to lead Kalise Gran Canaria to a 99-75 home win against CB Granada. Meanwhile, DKV Joventut dropped to 17-8 due to a 81-88 home loss against Cajasol. In other games, Ricoh Manresa topped Alta Gestion Fuenlabrada 78-87.

iurbentia Bilbao Basket confirmed its good moment by downing Tau Ceramica in front of 11,500 fans at Bizkaia Arena on Sunday. Bilbao improved to 11-14 while Tau still leads the regular season standings at 21-3. Guardia led the winners with 17 points. Markota and Banic each added 14 while Ronnie Seibutis had 13 for Bilbao. Splitter was the only Tau player in double digits with 10 points. Guardia had 10 points in the first quarter to make Bilbao get a 21-17 edge after 10 minutes. Splitter managed to tie the game at 34-34, but Quincy Lewis and Markota fueled a 13-2 run that gave Bilbao a 47-36 margin at halftime. Banic, Seibutis and Guardia allowed Bilbao to break the game open, 67-51, at the end of the third quarter, as Tau did not recover in the final period. Regal FC Barcelona did not find much trouble to thrash ViveMenorca 86-61 at home on Sunday, improving to 20-4 in the league table. Vazquez paced the winners with 23 points and 9 rebounds. Ersan Ilyasova added 13 points while Roger Grimau had 11 for Barcelona, that led 33-26 at halftime. A 15-2 run that Juan Carlos Navarro capped with a three-pointer broke the game for good, 46-28, as Barcelona kept a safe margin all the way until the final buzzer. Unicaja improved to 18-7 by beating CAI Zaragoza 64-74 on the road on Saturday. Ndong led the way for Unicaja with 20 points. Berni Rodriguez added 15 while Robert Archibald had 11 for the winners, that did not trail since 8-6. Even with that, CAI managed to get within 62-64 with 2 minutes remaining. Rodriguez followed a key basket with a three-pointer to seal the outcome down the stretch.

Real Madrid stayed third now with a 18-6 record by downing CB Murcia 77-88 on the road on Sunday. Llull led the winners with 21 points while Jeremiah Massey had 13 for Madrid, that were ahead 57-61 early in the fourth quarter. Llull had all points in a game-breaking 0-8 run that sealed the outcome, 57-69, as Murcia never returned to the game. Pamesa Valencia improved to 14-11 and cemented its status as a playoff contender by beating Bruesa GBC 75-66 at home on Saturday. Martinez led the winners with 15 points. Kosta Perovic added 14 while Albert Oliver had 13 for Pamesa, that led 38-32 at halftime. Perovic had 8 points after the break while a three-pointer by Matt Nielsen gave Pamesa a 56-41 margin after three quarters. A rain of triples got Bruesa within 67-61 but Martinez and Perovic stepped up to seal the outcome. Kalise Gran Canaria improved to 16-8 by thrashing CB Granada 99-75 at home on Sunday. Carl English led the winners with 20 points, 6 assists and 5 steals. Daniel Kickert added 13 points, Josh Fisher had 12 while Melvin Sanders got 11 for Gran Canaria, that led 24-12 after 10 minutes and boosted its margin to 55-23 at halftime, enough to control the game all the way until the final buzzer. DKV Joventut dropped to 17-8 due to a 81-88 home loss against Cajasol. Clay Tucker led the winners with 22 points while Nik Caner-Medley added 21 for Cajasol. Simas Jasaitis had 25 points for Joventut. Ricky Rubio added 13, Demond Mallet had 11 while Pau Ribas got 10 for the hosts. Tucker had 12 points in the first quarter to give Cajasol a 20-22 edge after 10 minutes. Joventut improved its defense in the second quarter while Luka Bogdanovic and Jasaitis helped the hosts to get a 35-30 edge at halftime. Jasaitis stayed unstoppable after the break, as he hit consecutive three-pointers for a 60-53 Joventut lead late in the third quarter. Cajasol used a 3-22 run that Savanovic capped with a three-point play to break the game open, 65-77, with 4 minutes to go. Joventut managed to get within 77-82 with a minute remaining but free throws allowed Cajasol to escape with a much-needed win.

LAST GAME GAME 26 March 14-15, 2009
Day	Match	Result
Mar. 15	Regal Barcelona vs. Menorca	86-61
Mar. 14	Fuenlabrada vs. Ricoh	78-87
Mar. 14	CAI Zaragoza vs. Unicaja	64-74
Mar. 15	Kalise G. Canaria vs. Granada	99-75
Mar. 14	Pamesa Valencia vs. Bruesa	75-66
Mar. 15	CB Murcia vs. Real Madrid	77-88
Mar. 15	DKV Joventut vs. Cajasol	81-89
Mar. 15	iurbentia vs. TAU Cerámica	85-72
	Estudiantes (free)

NEXT GAME GAME 27 March 21-22, 2009
Day	Match
Mar. 21	TAU Cerámica vs. Joventut
Mar. 21	Unicaja vs. Fuenlabrada
Mar. 22	Granada vs. CAI Zaragoza
Mar. 22	Ricoh vs. Regal FC Barcelona
Mar. 22	Real Madrid vs. Pamesa
Mar. 22	Cajasol vs. CB Murcia
Mar. 22	ViveMenorca vs. Estudiantes
Mar. 22	Bruesa vs. Kalise G. Canaria
	iurbentia Bilbao (free)

	STANDINGS	TG	W	L	P+	P-
1	TAU Cerámica	24	21	3	2119	1814
2	Regal F.C. Barcelona	24	20	4	1896	1653
3	Real Madrid	24	18	6	2059	1932
4	Unicaja	25	18	7	2051	1828
5	DKV Joventut	25	17	8	2094	1986
6	Kalise Gran Canaria	24	16	8	1972	1879
7	Pamesa Valencia	25	14	11	1890	1858
8	Ricoh Manresa	25	12	13	1817	1884
9	ALTA GESTIÓN Fuenlabrada	24	11	13	2002	1955
10	iurbentia Bilbao Basket	25	11	14	1919	1947
11	CB Granada	25	9	16	1869	1969
12	Bruesa GBC	24	8	16	1837	1988
13	MMT Estudiantes	24	7	17	1866	1959
14	CAI Zaragoza	24	7	17	1835	1987
15	CB Murcia	25	7	18	1831	2085
16	Cajasol	24	6	18	1792	1960
17	ViveMenorca	25	6	19	1767	1932