MADRID (ACB) - Marcelo Huertas scored a team-high 17 points and converted a timely three-point play down the stretch to help visitors Caja Laboral edge out Real Madrid 80-74.

The result saw Laboral improve to 26-6 while Real dropped to 25-7 with two league rounds left to play. Neither team can catch up to first place Barcelona, who improved to 29-3 with a crushing 73-54 road defeat of last-place CB Murcia.

Laboral took a 23-15 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to an 18-7 spurt spearheaded by Brad Oleson and Tiago Splitter. With the momentum firmly in their favour, the visitors went up by as many as 18, 35-17, and took a 46-35 advantage into halftime.

The hosts trailed 64-49 late in the third period but Sergio Llull and Pablo Prigioni led a furious comeback as Madrid accounted for 25 of the next 35 points and tied the game at 74 with 1:41 left to play.

However, they would not score the rest of the way while Splitter and Huertas did to help Laboral close out the game. Llull had a game-high 23 points and Prigioni added 22 for the home side.

Less than a week before they take part in the Euroleague Final Four in Paris, Barcelona comfortably dispatched CB Murcia.

Pete Mickael had 12 points - 10 of them in the third quarter - and Boni Ndong had a strong game with 11 points and 14 rebounds.

The visitors led 35-25 at halftime and, thanks in large part to Mickael's scoring outburst, stretched it to 49-35 by the end of the third period, making the final frame little more than a merely formality.

Elsewhere, Power Electronics Valencia saw off Cajasol 66-58 and improve to 22-10 to secure a fourth-place finish in the standings.

Nando De Colo and Thomas Kelati inspired a run of 14 unanswered points in the second quarter that helped the home side take a 36-25 lead at the break. They would add to that advantage in the second half, going up by as many as 19, 59-40. Cajasol did cut into the deficit late on, but the game's outcome was already decided by then.

Asefa Estudiantes beat Bizkaia Bilbao 78-73 to clinch their playoff spot and all but ended their opponents' chances of making it into the postseason.

With the win, Estudiantes improved to 17-15, good enough for seventh in the standings, while Bilbao dropped to 14-17 which has them in ninth place, two games behind Gran Canaria 2014.

Hosts Bizkaia trailed for most of the game and were down 49-35 early in the second half. However, they rallied back to get within 65-64 on Alex Mumbru's fastbreak lay-up in the final frame before Albert Oliver and Chris Lofton closed out the game to secure the win for Estudiantes.



FIBA