Barcelona needed a miracle from Alejandro Abrines and a strong overtime session to see off league leaders Unicaja Malaga 114-110 in by far the game of the Liga Endesa season so far.
Trailing 99-96 with 3.5 seconds to go, Abrines collected the inbounds off Marcelinho Huertas and banked in a desperation triple with 0.1 left on the clock. In overtime, Barca took the lead for good with just over a minute left when Maciej Lampe connected on an open three from the corner to give the hosts a 110-108 lead.
Huertas, Edwin Jackson and DeShaun Thomas all paced Barca with 19 points but stay in fifth. Unicaja were led by Ryan Toolson’s 25 and remain top.
Real Madrid also needed last second heroics, as a three-point play from Sergio Llull with 2.9 seconds left gave them a 75-74 win over Laboral Kutxa.
With time still remaining, the Vitoria side had one last attempt but their resulting inbounds play after the timeout went straight to Rudy Fernandez, who dribbled out the last seconds.
Llull led the winners with 17 points.
Joventut Badalona’s fine season continues as they secured their fourth win in their last five with a 77-70 road win over UCAM Murcia. Goran Suton led the Catalan side with 19 points.
Bilbao held on to beat Valencia 82-80. The victors withstood a tense last 2 seconds following a Romain Sato three-pointer for Valencia, but they iced the game from the foul line to gain the win and stay in the top three.
Veteran Alex Mumbru led Bilbao with 21 points with Tobias Borg adding 14. Sam van Rossom paced Valencia with 19.
Around the league, there was a big 102-78 win for Gran Canaria away to Zaragoza, thanks to 31 points and seven three-pointers from Kyle Kuric. Rio Monbus grabbed an important 78-73 win over Andorra as the Santiago-based side climb away from danger but Andorra move closer to it.
Gipuzkoa heaped more misery on basement club Seville by beating them 76-61. Taquan Dean led the victors with 16 points. Estudiantes were 78-73 winners at home to Bruixa d’Or and they drop down to second from bottom following Fuenlabrada 83-66 win at home to Tenerife.
NOTES: All Liga Endesa games in week 15 paid tribute to the victims in the horrific tragedy in Paris with a minute of silence … Real Madrid’s junior side were given a standing ovation at half-time between Real-Laboral Kutxa by winning the Euroleague Adidas Next Generation, Ciutat de L’Hospitalet tournament last week.
