ESP - Prigioni, Llull lift Madrid to late win over Caja Laboral

MADRID (ACB) - Real Madrid dug deep and beat Caja Laboral 80-67 on Wednesday night to stay alive in their Spanish ACB play-off semi-final.

Two narrow defeats in Vitoria to open the series had left Ettore Messina's men needing to prevail in three straight against Caja Laboral to advance to a title showdown with Regal Barcelona and for a while, it didn't look good for the Meringues.

Caja Laboral's Brazil internationals Marcelo Huertas and Tiago Splitter had five and four points, respectively, in a 10-0 run that left the visitors on top at 63-60 midway through the fourth quarter.

Argentina national team point guard Pablo Prigioni and Spain’s Sergio Llull came to the fore.

Former Caja Laboral playmaker Prigioni drove to the basket and was bumped by his old teammate Tiago Splitter but managed to make the lay-up.

He drew a foul on the play and sank the free-throw for a three-point play.

Madrid then landed the knockout punch.

Prigioni stole the ball from Fernando San Emeterio and passed to Llull, who buried the first of three straight three-pointers for Madrid.

Llull drilled another on the next possession for a 69-63 advantage and Prigioni capped the run with a shot for the arc for a 72-63 Real lead.

Madrid got huge contributions from several players.

Llull had 17 points and Prigioni nine along with four assists.

Young Croatia center Ante Tomic led all scorers in the game with 18 points.

Madrid's Novica Velickovic poured in 11 points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out five assists.

The team captain, Felipe Reyes, excelled with 11 points and nine rebounds and fellow big man Darjus Lavrinovic added nine points.

"Today's game between two teams that want to reach the final was very physical," Messina said.

"We played well, especially in the closing minutes of the game.

"We played good basketball when it counted, which is why we won the game.

"We need to continue working hard and improving.”

Splitter's 17 points were a team-high for Caja Laboral.

Game 4 at Madrid's Vistalegre is on Friday night.

A crowd of 9,300 fans turned out to watch Wednesday’s clash.

FIBA