Murcia, May 1 (EFE).- The UCAM Murcia Club Baloncesto has regained eighth place and, today, would dispute the playoffs for the title in the Endesa League after achieving its sixteenth victory in 31 games, winning convincingly by 98-80 to Monbus Obradoiro in a game in which they were clearly superior from the second quarter and in which they left a good ensemble performance.
Against a rival that had the opportunity to practically secure salvation and coming from losing three consecutive games away from home, the team led by Sito Alonso put an end to that bad streak and took advantage of the defeat that Gran Canaria had conceded a few hours earlier by 84 -86 before the Breogán Lugo River. Now the granas appear ahead of the yellow ones, with the same baggage, in their particular fight.
The start of the game was full of Monbus, who led 0-10 with five points from Thomas Scrubb in three and a half minutes.
The people from Compostela controlled the situation and UCAM CB soon had a problem because Augusto Lima, their most valued player of the season, was already sitting on the bench with three personal fouls, including a technical one, in just six minutes.
The difference was fundamentally in the triple, with a 0/6 of the locals until Tomás Bellas hit the seventh attempt, while the visitors scored their first three long-distance shots. In spite of everything, the university students, pressing on defense, minimized damage and closed the fourth with four points (18-22).
In the second period Sito’s men improved their shooting percentages to, with three triples in a row, turn the score around (33-27).
A 15-5 run in just three minutes forced Moncho Fernández to stop the game with time out, but the situation did not change, rather the opposite.
With a burning Thad McFadden -he scored 13 points in his first nine minutes on the track- and with Nemanja Radovic also very active, UCAM CB extended their lead to 42-31 and later made the match very much on track ( 49-32). From that -10 at the beginning and up to +17, the Murcian side endorsed their rival with a tremendous partial score of 49-22.
A Galician reaction somewhat narrowed the figures to reach the break with 51-39, but after the restart those from the capital of Segura continued firm and a triple by Chris Czerapowicz left a new maximum difference (63-44) before reaching the equator of the third quarter.
In any case, there was a lot left and the “Obra”, with Henry Ellenson taking shots, clung to their options, limited but still existing because they reached the last forced stoppage of the clash with 13 points (72-59) after a fourth played jerkily by both teams.
Those from Santiago needed points and going three minutes in a row without scoring at the beginning of the fourth period definitely hurt their hopes because, in addition, UCAM CB continued with its scoring rhythm and thus the hole for the visitors became 28 points ( 97-69), close to that of the first round between these teams at Fontes do Sar (70-104).
What happened in the final stages at the Palace was the usual make-up on the part of those who have already lost the game and that is why Obradoiro cut their disadvantage with a 1-11 that had little significance.
Match sheet:
98. UCAM Murcia Basketball Club (18+33+21+26): Taylor (7), Davis (15), Rojas (2), Webb (7) and Lima (5) -initial five-, Bellas (12), Malmanis (-), Radovic (10), McFadden (18), Cate (8), Czerapowicz (10) and Vasileiaidis (4).
80. Monbus Obradoiro from Santiago de Compostela (22+17+20+21): Hobbs (-), Robertson (15), Thomas Scrubb (14), Vicedo (3) and Birutis (11) -initial five-, Oliver ( -), Ellenson (19), Beliauskas (2), Phil Scrubb (11), Muñoz (2) and Suárez (3).
Referees: Benjamín Jiménez Trujillo, Óscar Perez Lorente and Yasmina Alcaraz Moreno. Without eliminated.
Incidents: Match corresponding to the thirty-first day of the Endesa Basketball League that was played at the Palacio de los Deportes de Murcia before 4,988 spectators.
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