ESP – Teletovic beats the buzzer as Baskonia win thriller at Menorca Basquet

MENORCA (ACB) - Menorca Basquet endured another painful afternoon on Sunday in a 77-76 home defeat to Caja Laboral.

Mirza Teletovic hit a three-pointer at the death for Caja Laboral.

Menorca, who are battling for ACB survival, suffered a one-point setback at home to Unicaja Malaga earlier this season while in their previous home game, leaders Barcelona came from behind in the fourth quarter and beat Menorca by five.

Coach Paco Olmos' team is 5-22 and two wins adrift of Meridiano Alicante, who occupy the last position of safety.

The fact that Menorca’s player valuations added up to 94 and Caja Laboral totaled 79 shows just how well the hosts played.

The only statistic that matters, though, is the result.

Sunday’s contest was knotted at 74-74 when Menorca’s Diego Ciorciari knifed his way into the lane and made a dazzling left-handed lay-up while being defended by the much taller Teletovic.

Baskonia called timeout with just 2.4 seconds left.

When play resumed, Fernando San Emeterio inbounded the ball to Teletovic, who dribbled to his left and from a full meter behind the arc, shot over the outstretched hands of Raviv Limonad and sank his fifth three-pointer of the game.

"We don't know what we need to do to win a game,” Menorca’s frustrated Olmos said.

“When you don't stop fighting for 40 minutes, winning the rebounds considering the game that Caja Laboral has, you feel a sense of injustice.

“We know we have to bounce back but it will not be today but tomorrow (Monday).

“In the end, the individual quality has decided the game.

“Teletovic's three-ball in the last second was the difference."

Jakim Donaldson of Menorca had 20 points and 18 rebounds.

He was named Player of the Week.

Israel international Raviv Limonad had 12 points for Menorca.

Teletovic and Caja Laboral celebrated as they improved to 17-10 and remained in fourth place and a game adrift of Power Electronics Valencia.

Caja Laboral have travelled to Israel to take on Maccabi Tel Aviv in Games 3 and 4 of their Turkish Airlines Euroleague quarter-final with that best-of-five series knotted at 1-1.

"We knew we were going to suffer greatly on this court against a team that, despite their position in the standings, is a good team that is playing well and I wish it all the luck in the world from now,” Ivanovic said.

“The other day we lost in the last second with the last shot. Today we won on the last shot.

“The important thing is to have faith, know what to do and especially in the difficult time to be prepared to spend your mental and physical limits to win a game."

Ivanovic was thrilled that his team managed to keep the heat on third-place Valencia.

"For us, the ACB is very important and with this win we stay in the fight for third place, which is our target until the end," he said.

Bosnia and Herzegovina star Teletovic, who was five of nine from the arc, had 21 points and David Logan 18.

Madrid edge Gran Canaria, Barca roll

Caja Laboral weren't the only Euroleague quarter-finalist to win an ACB thriller.

Real Madrid, who are level with Valencia at 1-1 in their European tie, trailed by double digits but scraped a 74-73 over triumph Gran Canaria on Saturday.

Jaycee Carroll had 20 points for Gran Canaria, but he wasn't able to prevent Sergio Llull from penetrating into the lane and scoring the go-ahead basket with 16 seconds left.

Gran Canaria had a chance to win at the end with Spencer Nelson driving into the paint but instead of pulling up for a short jumper, he attacked the basket.

D'or Fischer blocked the shot and though there was contact, the referees appeared to get it right as the Madrid player jumped straight up.

Llull finished with 19 points and Felipe Reyes had 15 along with seven rebounds.

Regal Barcelona bounced back from their home defeat to Panathinaikos.

Javier Pascual's side won 72-64 at Assignia Manresa and remained two games clear of Madrid (21-6) in the ACB by improving to 23-4.

Captain Roger Grimau led Barca with 13 points while Fran Vazquez had 12 along with eight boards.

Jaka Lakovic also contributed 11 points and four assists and Ricky Rubio finished with six points, three helpers and eight rebounds.

Barcelona have travelled to Athens for Games 3 and 4 against Panathinaikos in the Euroleague quarter-final tie.

Savanovic, Cook lead Valencia

Power Electronics Valencia had a tough home game against Lagun Aro GBC but pulled away in the second half and won 84-75.

Dusko Savanovic hit six of eight three-balls and finished with 21 points and eight rebounds for Valencia.

Omar Cook again led the Valencia defense. He had three steals and four assists to go with his six points.

Cook had a pair of uncontested two-handed dunks after steals.

Valencia are third in the ACB at 18-9 and will now host Madrid in their Euroleague showdown.

Aaron Jackson hit all three of his shots from long range and finished with 18 points, five assists, five rebounds and two steals for Bizkaia Bilbao Basket in an 85-68 home win over CB Granada.

That result, coupled with Unicaja Malaga's 78-64 victory at Blancos De Rueda (16-11), allowed Bilbao (also 16-11) to take over fifth place and drop Blancos to sixth.

Unicaja got 17 points from Gerald Fitch, 15 from Great Britain international Joel Freeland, 13 from Berni Rodriguez and 10 from recent signing Jorge Garbajosa.

They are seventh in the standings at 15-12.

Eighth-place Fuenlabrada are also 15-12 after clinching a 77-72 win at Cajasol Sevilla (13-14), who fell to 12th.

Asefa Estudiantes, who will try overturn a nine-point deficit in the Eurocup quarter-finals when they host Cedevita Zagreb this week, won 106-89 over CAI Zaragoza.

Play-off hopefuls DKV Joventut got 25 points and five rebounds from captain Pere Tomas in a 75-73 win over visiting Alicante.

Gran Canara (ninth), Estu (10th) and DKV Joventut (11th) are all 14-13.

FIBA