ARG - Peñarol through to final, Sionista just one win away

BUENOS AIRES (Liga Nacional de Basquet) - Peñarol Mar del Plata beat Boca Juniors 95-75 to sweep them and reach the finals of the Argentinean National League, while Juventud Sionista rallied back to stun Atenas de Córdoba 82-81 and take a 2-1 lead in their series.

Kyle Lamonte exploded for 40 points and Leo Gutierrez added 25 as Peñarol easily won Game 3 of their best-of-five-games semi-final series against Boca, who got 33 points from Cedric Moodie but had no other player score in double figures.

Meanwhile, Juventud Sionista came from behind to defeat Atenas in Paraná.

Atenas had a slight edge, 21-20, at the end of the first quarter and then pulled away to go up 49-35 at halftime.

They stretched that advantage to 53-35 early in the third period, but Sionista then stepped up their defensive play and, with Gary Buchanan leading the way, they used several scoring runs to erase the deficit.

Juventud's Chuckie Robinson, who finished with a team-best 20 points, tied the game at 81 all with 39.1 seconds left to play. Javier Martinez then made one of two free-throws to complete the upset.

Luis Cequeira added 14 and Buchanan had 12 for Sionista. Diego Lo Grippo scored a game-high 33 points for Atenas.

Game 4 is on Friday in Parana.

FIBA