La Laguna Tenerife narrowly avoided a major upset against a resilient Bàsquet Girona, who trailed for much of the game but refused to go away quietly, even taking the lead in the third quarter. The black-and-gold squad ultimately prevailed thanks to their veteran depth and experience—notably without ex-NBA player Patty Mills—in a thrilling finish (97-94).
Once again, Brazilian point guard Marcelinho Huertas, with 21 points, 6 assists, and a rating of 26, set the tempo for his team—despite already being a reserve on Vidorreta's bench—while containing the efforts of American Derek Needham (18 points) and Lithuanian Martinas Geben—another 15 points and 9 rebounds—who both fouled out in a heart-stopping finale.
In a frenetic opening, the Tenerife and Catalan squads traded blows evenly at the midpoint of the first quarter (17-17), with Giedraitis and Huertas leading the charge for the home side and Busquets and Livingston answering for the Girona team.
Even with subsequent rotations, the game remained tightly contested, though the scoring pace slowed as the minutes ticked by, until Jaime Fernández and Sastre opened a small gap at the end of the first quarter (26-21).
That small advantage found by Vidorreta's squad turned into a hemorrhage, thanks to another three-pointer from Sastre and a dunk by Shermadini that forced the first timeout for the visitors early in the second quarter (31-22).
When Bàsquet Girona tried to respond, they found themselves in another three-point shootout (38-32), which allowed La Laguna Tenerife to maintain their lead while the Catalan team hung on in the scoreboard at Santiago Martín.
From there, errors multiplied at both ends and the Tenerife squad used their greater experience to maintain the distance and head into halftime with a seven-point lead (50-43), with Huertas (12 points) as the leading scorer in the first half against Sergi Martínez—another 8—who spearheaded the visitors' response.
In the second half, Needham and Geben tightened the game (52-50) and just when the Canary Islands team seemed to respond with Shermadini's points, Girona didn't give an inch, flipping the scoreboard with a two-handed dunk down the middle from Geben himself (59-60).
Scrubb and Huertas paddled upstream, until they caught up, with a technical foul on Susinskas, a 13-3 run to breathe easy (72-63), also taking advantage of the fact that Girona's three-point percentages began to suffer.
In the final quarter, Livingston kept the Girona options alive with three-pointers, but the black-and-gold artillery continued firing to maintain a cushion that still hovered around double digits—83-73, with 6:17 remaining.
It seemed La Laguna had the game under control, but a final push between Needham, Susinskas, and Vildoza brought it down to just three points (87-84) with 2:17 left.
A floater from Huertas off a direct screen from Guerra, combined with an offensive foul on Geben—which was also his fifth personal—seemed to give the Tenerife squad breathing room. But it was a mirage, as Vildoza answered with an immediate three-pointer, Scrubb responded with another, and Needham raised the stakes with one more (92-90 with just 16 seconds left).
Next, in the exchange of fouls, Fitipaldo made one of his two subsequent free throws, while Vildoza sealed his two shots from 15 feet, and the agony began to settle over the court (93-92 with 13.4 seconds remaining).
It was Huertas' turn, who drew on his eternal experience to calm his teammates, but Vildoza answered again in this particular free-throw contest. Now it was 95-94, ball for La Laguna, and only 7 seconds to seal it.
Fitipaldo returned to the line and this time didn't miss either one. At 97-94 with just over five seconds left, Vidorreta chose not to foul, with Susinskas taking the final shot from the left wing, but without success. His shot bounced off the rim and with that, victory went to the Tenerife squad, who avoided the dramatic upset of a combative Girona.
97. La Laguna Tenerife (26+24+22+25): Fernández (9), Fitipaldo (10), Giedraitis (15), Guerra (13) and Doornekamp (5) -starting lineup-; Van Beck (-), Huertas (21), Scrubb (7), Sastre (5), Shermadini (7), Abromaitis (5) and Alderete (-).
94. Bàsquet Girona (21+22+20+31): Busquets (9), Needham (18), Livingston (11), Geben (15) and Martínez (12) -starting lineup-; Hildreth (4), Hughes (7), Ferrando (-), Vildoza (9), Brunot (-), Maric (4) and Susinskas (5).