Tenerife crowned Basketball Champions League winners after defeating Manresa / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

In the Basketball Champions League Final which also was a real Spanish derby, Lenovo Tenerife defeated BAXI Manresa where they were crowned as league winners. Tenerife played in the BCL Final for the third time, the most by any team in league history. The final score was 98-87 (27-25, 22-25, 33-17, 16-20).

Player of the Game EFF 20 Marcelinho Huertas Points 13 Accuracy 6-10 Rebounds 3 Assists 14

A huge crowd in Bilbao witnessed all-Spanish celebration of basketball. It has been the first time in six seasons with two teams from the same country in the Final.

Marcelinho Huertas was named the MVP of The Final 4. He scored 13 points, made 14 assists and got 22 PIR tonight.

Sasu Salin was the top scorer for the winners, accumulating 18 points (3/3 2PT, 4/8 3PT), 3 rebounds, and 20 PIR.

On the opposing side, Chima Moneke was the high-scorer for Manresa, ending with 24 points (5/6 2PT, 2/3 3PT, 8/10 FT), 8 rebounds and 27 PIR.

Chima Moneke showed why he became MVP of the tournament since the early beginning. He scored 12 points in the first quater alone without missing any single shot. Despite his impressive performance, Tenerife maintained a very slight advantage after the 10 minutes of the match (27-25).

After the first half going neck-on-neck, Sasu Salin‘s three 3-pointers in the third quarter alone sparked 16-6 run for Tenerife to give his team a substantial 11-points lead (69-58) in the third.

That was not over, Aaron Dornekamp made a 3-pointer, Kyle Wiljter added a jumper and the three that help Tenerife to build the biggest lead of the game (82-67) going into the fourth quarter.

After building a solid lead, Tenerife struggled a bit offensively, while Manresa started to climb back a little to make the game more interesting. With some precious baskets made by Luke Maye, Ismael Bako and couple of free throws from Moneke, they reduced the deficit to 12 (79-91) with 5:55 to go.

But then Manresa couldn‘t score a single point almost for three minutes, Joan Sastre made a layup and Tenerife could breath easier (93-79) with 3:38 left. Moneke and Thomasson made jumpers (85-95), but Kyle Wiljter responded with a crucial 3-pointer (98-85) with 55 seconds to go and sealed the deal for the Tenerife.

Tenerife: Sasu Salin 18, Kyle Wiltjer 17, Giorgi Shermadini 14, Marcelinho Huertas 13 (14 AST, 22 PIR), Aaron Doornekamp 11 (7 REB).

Manresa: Chima Moneke 24 (8 REB), Joe Thomasson 15, Sylvain Francisco 12, Dani Perez 12.

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