This Saturday, Surne Bilbao defeated La Laguna Tenerife 95-78 in Miribilla, but this score does not fully reflect the local advantage on the field of the Bilbao Arena, meaning that the Canary Islands team has not yet earned a ticket to the Copa del Rey.

The rivals who can pull Laguneros out of the cup competition are Surne, who have exactly one less victory, but with a difference of 69 points in total (+47 points for the Tenerife team and -22 points for the Vizcaya team), the team from Chusas Vidoreta remains a strong candidate to repeat another great event of ACB basketball.

With one day left to decide the standings, La Laguna must visit Barça, while Surne must visit bottom-placed Granada. Something that makes possible what seems impossible in principle. After a great second quarter by the “Men in Black” (31-12), it would have been a different story if the local team had maintained its biggest advantage until the end of the day, with 28 points (63-35) at the start of the third.

A great game in Vizcaya was led by Margulis Normantas (24 points, 6/8 T3, 4 assists, 29 PIR), who had his first great individual ACB night. He was accompanied by all his teammates, especially Melwyn Panzal (14, 5 assists, 19), Darlan Hilliard (11, 7 assists, 16) and Trygvi Hlinasson (11, 4 blocks, 16).

It was a bit of a cloudy day for La Laguna, with Gio Schmadini’s foul problems (13, 6 rebounds) and Marcelinho Huertas consistently productive (13, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 16), but the most noticeable were Jaime Fernández (20, 6/6 T3, 18) and Fran Guerra (11, 8 rebounds, 16).

Shermadini gave his team the only advantage with his first basket, which was answered with a hammer blow from the 3-point line. Where the locals, especially the very inspired Normantus, hit the first four shots in their first escape attempt (15-7).

La Laguna responded with a score of 0-7, which was extended to 2-10 thanks to the efforts of Uruguayan Fittipaldo, and the game was tied again (17-17). From then on, the score was even (19-19, 22-21) until the end of the first quarter, when Frei scored at the buzzer, proving Vizcaya’s advantage in the first 10 minutes (24-21).

With the last basket of the first quarter, Surne Bilbao joined the triple party of Hillard, Panzar and Crampli to extend a 12-0 lead, and after 13 minutes they already had a huge advantage (36-21).

Coach Jaume Ponsarnaud’s team went into halftime with an impressive 11/14 3-point shot rate, as well as 13/17. Hrinason and Bagayoko, who had already invaded the area, defeated the galley workers with the imprudent Shermadini.

technical sheet

Surne Bilbao vs. La Laguna Tenerife, 95-78

95 – Surne Bilbao (24+31+17+23): Frei (9), Normantas (24), Hilliard (11), Crumpley (6), Hrynason (11) – starting five. Panczal (14), Jaworski (8), Font (3), Petrasek (5), Bagayoko (4).

78 – La Laguna Tenerife (21+12+21+24): Huertas (13), Van Beck (2), Scrubb (2), Doornekamp, ​​Shermazini (13) – starting five. Fitipaldo (4), Jaime Fernández (20), Sastre, Guidriatis (2), Abromaitis (11), Guerra (11).

Referees: Antonio Conde, Jorge Martínez, Rubén Sánchez Mogedas. There are no exclusions.

Incident: Round 16 of the Endesa League was played at the Bilbao Arena in Miribilla in front of a crowd of 7,723 people. Official data. Of these, there are approximately 200 visiting followers.

Only Guerra responded to the momentum, and Surne came out of power, leading by more than 20 points at halftime on Jaworski’s final triple. Oddly enough, it was a first for the local leading shooter (55 wins, 33 losses). Partial example from the second quarter: 31-12.

Things looked like things would stay the same after the locker room as the locals extended their lead to 28 points with a score from Hilliard (63-35), but Shermadini and Jaime Fernandez made moves to close the gap, winning in the third quarter (17-21) and cutting the gap to less than 20 points at the end of the third quarter (72-54).

History repeated itself in the fourth quarter. First, Surne increased the lead to 23 points (79-56) with a triple from Panzal, but Jaime remained weak and Tenerife pressed defensively, allowing Vidoretta’s team to cut the score to 15 points midway through the quarter (80-65, 82-67).

Laguneros got this far because, despite Marcelinho’s beautiful duel for several minutes, Panzal seemed to have finished the match.

However, the game ended on time with Normantas’ three-pointer, arguably the best such action of the game. He hit 6/8 for individual triples and 16/25 for Soon. They won 95-78.