DKV Joventut remained undefeated in the regular season as it had no mercy on the Guildford Heat to take a 116-53 home win on Tuesday night, breaking the ULEB Cup all-time record in score difference in a game, 63 points. The previous record was in hands of Lietuvos Rytas when it blasted KK Split by 47 points, 103-56 on January 6, 2004. Those 116 points also tie the third best scoring mark ever by a team in a game with no overtime. Joventut then climbs to a 7-0 in Group A to secure its qualification for the elimination rounds, while the Heat remain winless with a 0-7 and say goodbye to any options to advance. The Guildford Heat managed to stay in the game until the 17-18, but after that, a 14-0 run for the hosts at the end of the first quarter set the trend for the rest of the game. Up to nine Joventut players scored in double digits. Pau Ribas led the way with 16 with 4 of 5 triples, Edu Hernandez-Sonseca added 15, Jerome Moiso and Rudy Fernandez posted 14 apiece, with Rudy scoring them all in the first half. Lubos Barton, Jan-Hendrick Jagla and Lonny Baxter tallied 12 apiece and Ferran laviña and Ricky Rubio had 10 each. Demond Mallet was the only other player with playing time and he scored only one point. For the Heat, Daniel Wardrope led the way with 18 points and Tony Dorsey added 12.
Lubos Barton and Daniel Wardrope exchanged triples as the guests started with the upper hand, 3-5 and then Rudy Fernandez and Michael Martin did the same thing for an 8-8. In the following steps of the game, both teams exchanged baskets and had similar numbers in all statistical aspects which resulted in a 19-18 DKV Joventut edge after Ricky Rubio free throws. Jerome Moiso and Ferran Laviña however, boosted the hosts to a fast 24-18 and soon the same protagonists gave the hosts the first double-digit lead, 31-18 after Pau Riba's triple to put an end to the first quarter. When the second period started with an 8-0 it looked like the game already belonged to Joventut. Guildford Heat was shooting a solid 4 of 8 from the arc but a 5-for-18 in two-pointers was what condemned the guests as Joventut was winning the rebounding battle 25-9 and got options to run for easy baskets, 49-26 in minute 15. The rhythm of the hosts was simply too hard for the guests to keep and by halftime, Joventut dominated by 31, 63-32 with 14 points by Rudy so far. The game didn't have much story either in the second half as a starting 13-3 run condemned the Heat to an overwhelming 92-42 after 30 minutes. The last period started with a new 9-0 that was just more salt in the Heat's wound as Joventut cruised to its seventh win of the season to remain undefeated.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
ULEBCup.com
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