ESP – Unicaja hand reigning champions Caja Laboral first defeat

MALAGA (ACB) – Unicaja overcame a 30-point effort by Spain international Fernando San Emeterio to beat Caja Laboral 76-69 at the Jose Maria Martin Carpena Arena on Saturday.
 
The result saw the home side improve to 2-0 while the visiting defending champions dropped to 1-1.
 
This all-Euroleague clash was close early on with Caja Laboral up 18-17 at the end of the first quarter before Unicaja edged in front for a 34-30 lead at the break.
 
The scoring picked up in the third quarter as the teams combined for 47 points and Caja Laboral got within 57-54 heading in to the final frame.
 
Unicaja’s balanced scoring in the end proved to be the winning formula. Berni Rodriguez and Great Britain big man Joel Freeland were the only players to score in double digits, with 15 and 12 respectively, but four others had eight or more points.
 
In comparison, San Emeterio carried the load almost single-handedly, getting some help from David Logan (14 points) and Marcelo Huertas (10), but his other team-mates were kept in check.
 
Meanwhile, Euroleague champions Barcelona rode the momentum of their win over NBA champions Los Angeles Lakers in midweek to see off Granada 85-78 on the road.
 
Spain star Juan Carlos Navarro had 24 points and Slovenian guard Jaka Lakovic added 16 off the bench as the visitors outscored the hosts 27-21 in the fourth quarter to improve to 2-0.
 
Australia international Joe Ingles had a game-high 25 points in the losing effort as Granada dropped to 0-2.
 
Elsewhere, Real Madrid made the most of their homecourt advantage to see off Assignia Manresa 81-63 and stay perfect (2-0).
 
There was little to separate the teams as Madrid led 25-24 at the end of the opening period, but the visitors were then outscored 43-24 in the middle quarters and that effectively put the game out of reach.
 
Clay Tucker came off the bench to lead all scorers with 16 points and Sergio Llull had 15.
 
Bizkaia Bilbao are top of the table after getting the best of Eurocup champions Power Electronics Valencia 77-70 behind a combined 36 points by Martin Rancik and Chris Warren.
 
Up 13-11 at the end of a low-scoring first quarter, the home side then broke the game wide open by outscoring Valencia 32-22 in the second period and held them off the rest of the way.
 
Baloncesto Fuenalabrada are the only other unbeaten team following their 76-68 road win over Meridiano Alicante.
 
FIBA