Spanish League finals, Game 3: June 15, 2010 - SPAIN - Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL

May 25, 2012

Spanish League finals, Game 3: June 15, 2010

A Fernando San Emeterio three-point play with 0.5 seconds remaining in overtime lifted Caja Laboral to a thrilling 79-78 victory and a 3-0 sweep of Regal FC Barcelona to win the club’s third Spanish League title. After Gianluca Basile put the visitors up 2 with 7.5 seconds left, San Emeterio took the ball, attacked the basket and managed to drop in a layup while drawing a foul from Terence Morris. He then sank the free throw as Fernando Buesa Arena erupted. Tiago Splitter was named finals MVP after recording 14 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks in Game 3. Lior Eliyahu added 18 points for the winners. San Emeterio finished with just 5, but 3 of them were the night’s most important points. Juan Carlos Navarro led Barcelona with 18 points, Pete Mickeal added 16 and Ricky Rubio finished with an impressive line of 14 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals.

Fernando San Emeterio - Caja Laboral

Barcelona was equal to the hosts early, though it was unable to stop Splitter. An Eliyahu slam gave Laboral a 22-18 lead after 10 minutes and the swift-moving forward scored three more baskets in the opening minutes of the second quarter as the lead swelled to 8. Mickeal showed heart and kept Barcelona in the game. Laboral’s lead reached 9 before Mickeal carried the visitors to 37-34, however a pair of Brad Oleson free throws put Laboral up 41-36 at halftime. Navarro heated up in the third quarter and ultimately gave his team the lead when he was fouled shooting a triple and sank the resulting 3 free throws. Rubio drove through the Laboral defense to keep his team up 52-53 entering the fourth quarter. A Milt Palacio steal and layup restored Laboral’s lead. Eliyahu added a backcourt steal and layup followed, after a timeout, by a quick-flip baseline jumper to put Laboral ahead 60-55 with five minutes left. Barcelona's answer came from Victor Sada, who struck from the arc right after the four-minute mark to make it 60-58. Laboral hit back with a Splitter-to-Eliyahu layup, but then Erazem Lorbek lined up from deep and landed another triple for Barcelona at 62-61. There it stayed heading into the next-to-last minute, when San Emeterio hit 1 of 2 free throws at 63-61. Rubio's next drive finished with a turnover, and then Barcelona left Pau Ribas open in the corner. He was ready, hitting nothing but net on the 67second mark as Caja Laboral's lead reached 66-61 and the crowd in Vitoria exploded. But nothing was over. After a Barcelona timeout, the ball found Navarro, who blasted a triple while being fouled, but missed the extra free throw. After a miss by Huertas, Rubio ran the break and found Morris trailing for the game-tying dunk, 66-66, with 30 seconds left. Caja Laboral dribbled down the clock, but a flip-in try by Eliyahu that Morris rose and blocked, forced overtime. There, Splitter opened the scoring with a hook, and his second shot was accidentally tipped in by Morris, who made up for it with a finger-roll layup at 70-68. Next, fouled on a defensive rebound, Navarro tied the game at the foul line, and then Rubio went coast-to-coast with a Caja Laboral turnover to put Barcelona in front, 70-72. After a timeout and another Caja Laboral miss, Rubio appeared in the corner and buried a triple, but Mirza Teletovic answered within seconds from the same distance, making it 73-75 heading into the last minute of OT. Lorbek quickly answered with a banked-in jump hook, and Teletovic got one point back at the foul line at 74-77 with 44 seconds left. Lorbek missed and Teletovic drove for a layup with 9 seconds left, to make it 76-77. Caja Laboral fouled Gianluca Basile, who made 1 of 2 with 7.5 seconds left. San Emeterio took the ball fullcourt, hit a reverse and was fouled with .5 seconds left. The free throw was perfect and Caja Laboral won the Spanish League for the third time in its history!

Record	Team	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5
0	Regal FC Barcelona (1)	58	69	78	x	x
3	Caja Laboral (2)	63	70	79	x	x
Spanish League Champion 2009-10: Caja Laboral Vitoria

Finals Playoffs round games
Game 1	Regal Barcelona vs. Caja Laboral	58-63	June 10
Game 2	Regal Barcelona vs. Caja Laboral	69-70	June 12
Game 3	Caja Laboral vs. Regal Barcelona	79-78	June 15