Spanish League, Game 17: January 12-13, 2008
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The Spanish League regular season reached its halfway mark this weekend and the eight teams that reached the Spanish King's Cup final eight was completed. Real Madrid, iurbentia Bilbao Basket, DKV Joventut and Tau Ceramica will be top seeded teams in the King's Cup draw next week and its potential opponents are AXA FC Barcelona, Pamesa Valencia, Unicaja and Akasvayu Girona. Unicaja mathematically reached the King's Cup final eight by edging archrivals Cajasol 82-77 in Malaga on Sunday. Marcus Haislip led the winners with 22 points. Meanwhile, Marc Gasol had 23 points to make Akasvayu beat Grupo Capitol Valladolid 84-74 in a do-or-die showdown to reach the event. Real Madrid stayed first at 14-3 by beating Gran Canaria Grupo Dunas 89-77 in the Spanish capital on Sunday. Felipe Reyes led the winners with 18 points. Meanwhile, DKV Joventut improved to 12-5 by topping CB Granada 76-85 on the road on Saturday behind 34 points from Rudy Fernandez. Late free throws by Igor Rakocevic against his former team allowed Tau Ceramica to edge Pamesa Valencia 74-76 on Saturday. He also led the winners with 24 points. AXA FC Barcelona dropped to 12-5 due to a 95-82 road loss against Polaris World CB Murcia. In other games, iurbentia Bilbao Basket edged Alta Gestion Fuenlabrada 75-68, Ricoh Manresa topped Grupo Begar Leon 78-81 while MMT Estudiantes rallied from a 27-point deficit in the final 12 minutes to beat ViveMenorca 73-77.
Real Madrid kept the top spot at the halfway mark of the regular season with a 14-3 record by beating Gran Canaria Grupo Dunas 89-77 in the Spanish capital on Sunday. Reyes led the winners with 18 points. Kerem Tunceri added 15, Axel Hervelle had 13, Alex Mumbru 11 while Charles Smith and Lazaros Papadopoulos each scored 10 points for Madrid. Roberto Guerra had 17 points for Gran Canaria while Sitapha Savane and Marcus Norris each added 13. Savane also got 12 rebounds for a double-double. Norris and Guerra led Gran Canaria to a 16-29 lead early in the second quarter, but a 15-0 run that Tunceri capped with a triple made Madrid return to the game, 37-41, at halftime. Hervelle, Reyes and Tunceri fueled a 15-1 run that broke the game open, 55-44, midway through the third quarter. Gran Canaria got within 70-68 but Madrid boosted its margin to 79-68 and never looked back. DKV Joventut improved to 12-5 by topping CB Granada 76-85 on the road on Saturday. Fernandez paced the winners with 34 points, Ricky Rubio added 15 while Demond Mallet had 11 for Joventut, that trailed 66-54 with 7 minutes to go. A 2-14 run that Rudy capped with a fast break dunk tied the game at 68-68. Granada got its last lead at 72-71, as Rubio and Mallet combined for 12 points in the final 2 minutes to seal the outcome. AXA FC Barcelona dropped to 12-5 due to a 95-82 road loss against Polaris World CB Murcia. Snap Hunter led Murcia with 23 points. Jaka Lakovic had 22 points for Barcelona, Roger Grimau 15 and Alex Acker 11. Barcelona led 40-44 at halftime but Murcia managed to get a 63-60 edge after 30 minutes and use team effort and an outstanding Hunter to stay ahead until the final buzzer.
Tau Ceramica survived a tough test by edging Pamesa Valencia 74-76 on Saturday. Igor Rakocevic paced the winners with 24 points, including the game-winning free throws with 11 seconds to go. Zoran Planinic added 11 for Tau. Shammond Williams and Stanko Barac each had 13 points for Pamesa, Roben Douglas added 12 and Albert Oliver 11 for the hosts. Barac, who has been sent to Pamesa on loan from Tau, allowed the hosts to stay in the game, 37-40, at halftime. The game turned into a thriller when Williams buried his trademark triple from the top of the key for a 74-71 Pamesa egde with 2 minutes to go. Rakocevic answered from downtown and added free throw to fix the final score. Barac missed around the basket in the game's final possession. Unicaja improved to 10-7 and reached the Spanish King's Cup Final eight by edging archrivals Cajasol 82-77 in Malaga on Sunday. Marcus Haislip led the winners with 22 points, Jiri Welsch added 13, Boniface Ndong had 12 while Carlos Jimenez pulled down 11 boards for Unicaja, that led 57-39 late in the third quarter. Elmer Bennett led a 3-21 run that brought Cajasol back in the game, 66-60. Unicaja found answers against the guests' 1-3-1 zone defense, while Welsch and Haislip sealed the outcome. Akasvayu Girona advanced to the Spanish King's Cup Final Eight by downing Grupo Capitol Valladolid 84-74 in a do-or-die showdown to reach the event on Sunday. Gasol paced the winners with 23 points, Arriel McDonald added 19, Roman Montañez had 16 while Fernando San Emeterio got 15 for Akasvayu, that overcame an early deficit to get a 37-30 halftime edge. San Emeterio and an outstanding McDonald allowed Akasvayu to break the game open, 58-42, after 30 minutes, as Valladolid did not recover.
LAST GAME GAME 17
January 12-13, 2008 | | Day | Match | Result | | Jan. 13 | Unicaja vs. Cajasol | 82-77 | | Jan. 13 | Begar León vs. Manresa | 78-81 | | Jan. 12 | Pamesa vs. TAU Cerámica | 74-76 | | Jan. 13 | ViveMenorca vs. Estudiantes | 73-77 | | Jan. 13 | CB Murcia vs. AXA Barcelona | 95-82 | | Jan. 13 | Akasvayu vs. Valladolid | 84-74 | | Jan. 13 | R. Madrid vs. Gran Canaria | 89-77 | | Jan. 13 | Bilbao vs. Fuenlabrada | 75-68 | | Jan. 12 | Granada vs. DKV Joventut | 76-85 |
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NEXT GAME GAME 18
January 19-20, 2008 | | Day | Match | | Jan. 19 | Estudiantes vs. Murcia | | Jan. 19 | Valladolid vs. C.B. Granada | | Jan. 19 | Gran Canaria vs. AXA FCB | | Jan. 19 | Bilbao vs. Begar León | | Jan. 20 | Fuenlabrada vs. R. Madrid | | Jan. 20 | Unicaja vs. Pamesa V. | | Jan. 20 | Joventut vs. ViveMenorca | | Jan. 20 | Manresa vs. TAU Cerámica | | Jan. 20 | Akasvayu vs. Cajasol |
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| STANDINGS | TG | W | L | P+ | P- | | 1 | Real Madrid | 17 | 14 | 3 | 1366 | 1269 | | 2 | iurbentia Bilbao Basket | 17 | 13 | 4 | 1277 | 1190 | | 3 | DKV Joventut | 17 | 12 | 5 | 1465 | 1318 | | 4 | TAU Cerámica | 17 | 12 | 5 | 1396 | 1257 | | 5 | AXA F.C. Barcelona | 17 | 12 | 5 | 1290 | 1263 | | 6 | Pamesa Valencia | 17 | 11 | 6 | 1332 | 1226 | | 7 | Unicaja | 17 | 9 | 8 | 1355 | 1284 | | 8 | Akasvayu Girona | 17 | 9 | 8 | 1364 | 1383 | | 9 | C.B. Granada | 17 | 8 | 9 | 1294 | 1310 | | 10 | Grupo Capitol Valladolid | 17 | 8 | 9 | 1339 | 1393 | | 11 | Gran Canaria Grupo Dunas | 17 | 7 | 10 | 1259 | 1280 | | 12 | Polaris World CB Murcia | 17 | 7 | 10 | 1256 | 1283 | | 13 | Ricoh Manresa | 17 | 7 | 10 | 1349 | 1420 | | 14 | Alta Gestión Fuenlabrada | 17 | 6 | 11 | 1224 | 1285 | | 15 | ViveMenorca | 17 | 6 | 11 | 1264 | 1356 | | 16 | MMT Estudiantes | 17 | 5 | 12 | 1223 | 1335 | | 17 | Cajasol | 17 | 4 | 13 | 1292 | 1347 | | 18 | Grupo Begar León | 17 | 3 | 14 | 1223 | 1369 |
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