Real Madrid, Valencia and Barça will enter the Copa del Rey draw as seeds with fourth place still pending to be decided. against Joventut with an 87-77 victory and the defeat of UCAM Murcia at the Martín Carpena against Unicaja – after a great game that was decided in overtime (92-88) – leaves the option of keeping the last place as seed in the hands of the Vitorians. The team led by Paolo Galbiati will have to play a postponed match against Gran Canaria at home on February 8 and is obliged to win to obtain fourth place.
UCAM Murcia sought to assault the Martín Carpena to virtually tie the last place as seed for the Copa del Rey. The Murcians, led by David DeJulius in MVP mode, let the victory slip away in overtime after a terrible last quarter. The American base gave an offensive recital. He finished the game with 25 points, eight assists and five of nine in triples. Statistics that were of no use in the face of Unicaja’s push towards its fans.
In the first half, Sito Alonso’s players flew over the court with great accuracy from the outside shot. The Murcian team finished the first half with 10 of 15 in three-point shots against a sleepy Unicaja that could not alleviate the damage from the outside zone. UCAM Murcia was up by 14 points and finished the second quarter winning by 11 points.
But in the second half, they turned on the turbo and came within one point of the Murcians, who reacted and finished the third quarter with seven points ahead of the Malaga team. The last quarter arrived and Unicaja returned to rowing and pushing hard. And he did it. With three minutes left they managed to take the lead on the scoreboard for the first time in the match. DeJulius supported Sito Alonso’s team and finally the game went to overtime with the score 79-79. The last set of the Murcians was terrible offensively: only ten points.
Already in extra time, the American James Webb shone above the rest to give Unicaja the victory against a UCAM Murcia that missed its six attempts from outside in extra time and that ends this first part of the course with four defeats in its last five games.
Baskonia will have it in their power to be seeded by beating Joventut at home. Galbiati’s team only gave in in a first quarter in which they were seven points behind. However, from the second onwards, everything went smoothly thanks to a great Trent Forrest who finished the game with 15 points, four rebounds and five assists. The second half was easier for the Vitorians due to the lack of success of Ante Tomic and their visit in two weeks to a Gran Canaria in crisis will decide the last seed.
Barcelona, for its part, confirmed its place in the top four despite losing at the Palau against La Laguna Tenerife (82-89) in a very close match that the Canarian team ended up coming back in the last quarter. The defeat of UCAM Murcia gave that advantage to the Barça team. Tenerife, who also deserved a defeat with a short result, will be in the Copa del Rey that will be played in Valencia between February 19 and 22.
