ESP – Brazil’s Marcelo Huertas, Spain’s San Emeterio lift Caja Laboral

VITORIA (ACB) - Dramatic finishes are not the exception in the ACB.
 
They're the norm.

Caja Laboral, Real Madrid, CAI Zaragoza and Fuenlabrada all scraped narrow, heart-stopping wins at the weekend in Spain’s top flight.

Marcelo Huertas, the starting point guard of Brazil's national team, made a lay-up at the buzzer to lift Caja Laboral to a 76-74 home triumph over Unicaja Malaga.

Huertas, who went into the game as the co-MVP of the Week in the Euroleague Top 16, finished with 16 points, three assists, a steal and four rebounds against Unicaja.

Caja Laboral wouldn't have been in a position to win had it not been for Spain international Fernando San Emeterio, however.

San Emeterio had 20 points, 11 rebounds and four assists and earned Play of the Week honors for the performance.

The Dusko Ivanovic-coached team held on to third place by improving to 12-7.

Power Electronics are also 12-7 and in fourth place after pulling away from Bilbao Basket (11-8) at La Fonteta in the fourth quarter and winning, 68-54.

Beaten by Bilbao 77-70 earlier in the campaign, Valencia are more formidable, now.

They have won 11 of their last 12 games in the ACB and are also in the Euroleague Top 16.

"They are completely different," said Bilbao's Greek sharpshooter Kostas Vasileiadis to FIBA.com.

"They play stronger defense and the new coach (Svetislav Pesic) has given them more confidence."

One player that is definitely benefitting from the presence of Pesic is the Valencia’s Lithuania captain, Robertas Javtokas.

The giant center was the only player to reach double figures with 10 points and he also pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.

Real Madrid only narrowly avoided defeat at Assignia Manresa, winning 62-61 with a great defensive stand in the last five seconds.

Manresa had led by 48-40 late in the third quarter but found themselves clinging to a 56-54 advantage with three minutes to go.

That's when Nikola Mirotic, the 19-year-old sensation of Madrid, caught a pass from Pablo Prigioni and hit a three-pointer.

Madrid led the rest of the way, though they needed to close down Manresa in the final seconds.

Rodrigo San Miguel caught an inbounds pass and found just enough space to shoot over the long arms of Ante Tomic but the attempt did not even hit the rim.

Madrid improved to 16-3 and kept pace with first-place Regal Barcelona (also 16-3), who overcame last-place Granada 75-64 at the Palau Blaugrana.

Fuenlabrada edged Meridiano Alicante, 74-73.

Kristaps Valters' two free-throws with seven seconds left accounted for the final score.

Justin Doellman had a chance to win it at the death for Alicante but was off the mark with a shot inside the arc.

He had a game-high 27 points in defeat.

Mexico international Gustavo Ayon scored 26 points and corralled seven rebounds for Fuenlabrada.

CAI Zaragoza (8-11) edged Gran Canaria 2014 (9-10) with Adam Chubb's dunk giving the hosts an 81-80 advantage in the last minute.

Neither side scored the rest of the way.

Argentina international Paolo Quinteros hit three of five shots from long range and finished with 18 points for Zaragoza.

Asefa Estudiantes (8-11) rolled to a 77-60 triumph over Blancos de Rueda Valladolid (12-7), DKV Joventut (11-8) won 87-82 at Menorca Basquet (5-14), and Cajasol Sevilla (9-10) prevailed 73-61 at home over Lagun Aro GBC (7-12).
 
FIBA