ESP – Unicaja survive on road to level series with Gran Canaria; Barca, TAU advance
GRAN CANARIA (ACB) - Unicaja Malaga scraped a 70-68 win at Kalise Gran Canaria on Tuesday night to force a Game 3 decider in their first-round play-off showdown. Spain’s Carlos Cabezas hit the go-ahead shot in the lane with three seconds remaining for Unicaja. After a timeout, the Canary Islanders inbounded the ball to Josh Fisher who launched a ...
GRAN CANARIA (ACB) - Unicaja Malaga scraped a 70-68 win at Kalise Gran Canaria on Tuesday night to force a Game 3 decider in their first-round play-off showdown.
Spain’s Carlos Cabezas hit the go-ahead shot in the lane with three seconds remaining for Unicaja.
After a timeout, the Canary Islanders inbounded the ball to Josh Fisher who launched a potential game-winning trey 15 feet beyond the arc.
Fisher (16 pts) had nailed a trio of three-pointers in his first seven attempts but his eighth long-range shot bounced off the backboard and rim and stayed out to preserve Unicaja's triumph.
Senegal international center Boniface Ndong had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Unicaja, who will now try to advance when they host Game 3 on Sunday.
Cabezas is showing signs that he merits a recall to the Spain national squad after missing out on last year's Olympics. The game-winning shots left him with 14 points in the contest.
In defeat, Ndong's compatriot Sitaphe Savane scored 11 points and Great Britain national team big man Joel Freeland had nine rebounds to go with his six points.
TAU Ceramica and Regal Barcelona completed 2-0 sweeps in their first-round play-off ties.
TAU edged their Basque rivals iurbentia Basket Bilbao in Game 1 in Vitoria but on the road they rolled to a 97-76 triumph after dominating in the third quarter.
Leading 47-45, Dusko Ivanovic's TAU outscored Bilbao 26-11 over the next 10 minutes to take command.
The ACB's leading scorer Igor Rakocevic, who was recently named in Serbia's EuroBasket squad, poured in 23 points for TAU.
He and Bosnia and Herzegovina international Mirza Teletovic (14 pts) each hit four of eight shots from three-point range.
Barcelona had also won a close opener at home against Pamesa Valencia but on the road at La Fonteta they overwhelmed Neven Spahija's side, 81-55.
Australia international David Andersen, Barcelona's standout performer at the Euroleague Final Four earlier this month, poured in 21 points for the Catalan club.
Slovenia's Jaka Lakovic and Spain's Juan Carlos Navarro each weighed in with 13 points.
FIBA