Marcelinho Huertas MVP of the Champions League Final
Indestructible Marcelinho MVP, Salin buried Manresa’s basket. Second trophy for the team from San Cristobal de la Laguna in the Champions League. The basketball players of Tenerife won the premiere edition of the Champions League. Five years later, they repeated that success. In front of the filled stands of the Bilbao Arena, they were surprisingly convincing against the rival from the ACB League, Manresa – 98:87.
Between 6,000 and 7,000 fans of Manresa
The spectacular atmosphere in Bilbao. There were about 8,500 fans in the stands, most in the red of Manresa (between 6,000 and 7,000). The basketball players responded to it in the right way. They put on a great show, worthy of the finale. The expected uncertainty was missing because Txus Vidorreta’s players were better. The deserved victory of Tenerife and great success of the team from the Canary Islands.
At the end of the match, many Manresa fans chanted to their players for almost five minutes, and then completely delighted: “Te-ne-ri-fe”, shouted Bilbao Arena. The fans of the Catalan team stoically lost and paid tribute to their rivals for an excellent game. After all, Spanish basketball won. There was a big fight in the first half, but Marcelinho Huertas and his friends were mostly in the lead.
Fantastic 3-point shot
In the third period, they broke away, reached a 15-point surplus in the last minutes, and welcomed the decisive period with a big surplus. Manresa tried to come back, and the MVP of Chima Moneke shone, but the basketball players of Tenerife are simply too experienced to lose such an advantage. They defended themselves from all the attacks of Pedro Martinez’s team and celebrated convincingly.
Almost perfect attacking edition of Tenerife. Vidorreta’s players shot with 65.6 percent success from the game. They hit 27 three-pointers from 37 attempts, passed the ball through the net on 13 occasions outside the 6.75 line, and missed only nine times (54.2 percent). Maybe the key was the better team game of Tenerife, the ball was moving great in the opponent’s half, which is reflected in as many as 26 assists.
Great game for Wiltjer
Marcelinho Huertas was responsible for more than half of it. The former player of Barcelona and Los Angeles Lakers, even at the age of 38, showed what a master of basketball he is and that his age can’t do anything to him. The match for the trophy he ended with 13 points and 14 final passes. Of course, he also received the MVP final award.
He was accompanied by Sasu Salin with 18 points. The Finnish “sniper” shot 4/8 from a distance. Canadian basketball player Kyle Wiltjer was also excellent with 17 points (3/6 for three), and as expected, the gigantic Giorgi Shermadini was among the best with 14 points. Double-digit and experienced Aaron Doornekamp (13 points and seven rebounds).
In the Manresa team, by far the best was Nigerian Chima Moneke. The MVP of the Champions League ended the match with 24 points and eight rebounds, but that was not enough for the trophy. Joe Thomasson added 15 points. Dani Perez and Sylvain Francisco added 12, while Luke Maye added 10.
Simon’s record for Ludwigsburg’s third place in the Champions League
The match for the third place at the F4 tournament in Bilbao was also played, and the victory was achieved in a convincing manner by the German Ludwigsburg – 88:68 against the Israeli Hapoel Holon. The German team controlled the events on the floor from the first to the last minute. Won the first quarter 27:19, increased the advantage to 13 points until the big break. Everything was clear when Ludwigsburg decided the third section in their favor with the result of 27:19, so they welcomed the last break with as many as 21 points in excess.
Patrick’s team shot fantastically from a distance – 14/24 (58.3 percent). Jonah Radebaugh led with 3/3, while Jordan Hulls (4/7) gave three more. The winning team was led by the great Justin Simon, who was also great in the semifinals. In less than 37 minutes, he scored 27 points (career record) with six rebounds and six assists. In the defeated team, Tyrus McGee scored 14 points, Frederic Bourdillon scored two less, while Joe Regland scored 11, with six rebounds and five final passes. Captain Guy Pnini counted to six.
