Royal Rudy named MVP while Joventut wins ULEB-Cup
[by Kris SANTIAGO] - Offense wins games, defense wins championships! Badalona's coach Aito Reneses winning formula is easy as it can be. Joventut Badalona from Spain routed fellow Catalan-side Akasvayu Girona (both clubs are from the same northeastern province of Spain) 54-79 to clinch the ULEB-Cup, Europe's second most prestigious trophy after the ...
[by Kris SANTIAGO] - Offense wins games, defense wins championships!
Badalona's coach Aito Reneses winning formula is easy as it can be.
Joventut Badalona from Spain routed fellow Catalan-side Akasvayu Girona (both clubs are from the same northeastern province of Spain) 54-79 to clinch the ULEB-Cup, Europe's second most prestigious trophy after the Euroleague. Click here to watch a summary
Experienced American Demond Mallet (McNeese State) top scored Joventut with 26 points (6 of 8 made threes) while MVP Rudy Fernandez had 13 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists. Former-UCLA Bruin Jerome Moiso added another 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocks for the winning side and gave an interview after the game.
Girona, who already suffered two losses during the season in Spain, had their best in former-Wildcat Ivan Radenovic and Arriel McDonald who scored 20 and 11 points respectively.
Marc Gasol (Draft-rights belong to the Lakers), who is the cornerstone of Girona's offense and defense , managed to score nine points and pulled down ten boards but was less impressive then in the previous games.
Future-star Ricky Rubio contributed on the defensive end for Badalona with three steals, as it was clearly Joventut's defense that won the title in the second and third quarter of the game.
Joventut made their way to the finals by beating Pamesa Valencia 77-67 in the quarters (Pamesa has New Mexico's Ruben Douglas, former-NBA guard Shammond Williams and NBA-Draft picks Alberto Miralles and Stanko Barac on the roster) and edged Istanbul's Galatasaray 80-73 (Gala is having four players with a NBA-past on the squad: Britton Johnsen, Dee Brown, Robert Hite and Chris Owens and draft-pick Cenk Akyol) to make the finals in Torino, Italy.
Girona beat Unics Kazan (75-66) from Russia and prevailed over favored-to-win Dynamo Moscow (The Russians carry Travis Hansen, Sergey Monya, Antonis Fotsis, Robertas Javtokas and Yaroslav Korolev on the roster) to join Badalona in the finals.