By Juan Cobos
We went to Casarrubuelos on Saturday for the second day of the event, and saw two really different games. The first one was a huge blow out. Real Madrid beat Estudiantes by 60 points while the second game was an intense close one between Torrejón and Fuenlabrada.
Real Madrid 104 – Estudiantes 44: The score says it all. There was no game. Real Madrid started concentrated, trying to forget the day’s before loss and gave no chance to Estudiantes. With 6’2’’ PG Jorge Sanz (’93) leading operations and 6’8’’ SF Dani Díez (’93) -at the pic- scoring in multiple ways: shooting from the outside, attacking the rim, scoring after grabbing offensive boards…It was 30-12 at the end of the 1st quarter and 52-21 at the end of the 1st half. Real Madrid even played 6’0’’ PG Alberto Martín (’95) who showed he’s a got a quick release. 6’9’’ C Placide Nakidjim (’94) felt more comfortable than in the previous game and dominated the boards. He wasn’t wearing his face mask, and definitely wasn’t facing the huge guys Torrejón does have. 6’7’’ PF Julen Olaizola (’93) kept playing hard as always and despite missing some threes, 6’6’’ SF Jorge Sánchez (’94) wasn’t scared of shooting them (he actually made a couple). With his activity, his intensity, and his physical skills, he would really fit playing basketball in the United States. For Estudiantes, players like 6’7’’ SF Javier Medori (’93), 6’7’’ SF Edgar Vicedo (’94) and 6’7’’ PF Sebastian Saez (’94) never gave up.
Sanz finished with 23 points and 8 assists, while Díez added 27 points and grabbed 8 boards. Nakidjim got 15 rebounds. Saíz led Estudiantes scorers with 11 points.
Fuenlabrada 76 – Torrejón 67: Great game. It had all you can ask. Passion, intensity, some quality plays, two well-coached teams and a close score. Fuenlabrada started small with 6’7’’ PF Arturo Gómez (’93) and 6’6’’ PF Sergio Heredero (‘93) against the big duo Diedhou-Diagne. And it went good. Heredero started to have good plays while 6’11’’ C Cheickh Diagne (’94) went crazy about referees calling goaltending of each of his blocks. For Torrejón, 6’5’’ SG Carlos Castro (‘93) kept his momentum from his buzzer beater against Real Madrid and made 5 quick points, while 6’4’’ SG Jonah Callenbach (‘93) helped Heredero with 4 points and it was 15-13 Torrejón after 5’11’’ PG Sergio Herranz (’93) scored his first two points. The game kept back and forth, Heredero made a three pointer but Diagne closed the 1st quarter with a bucket giving the lead to Torrejón 19-18.
The second quarter was intense but the game wasn’t fluid. Fuenlabrada kept trying to play good basketball, looking for an extra pass, playing traps in the corners and finally got a momentum thanks to their making free throws and made a 14-2 run that put them ahead 36-27 with 30 seconds remaining in the second quarter. 6’4’’ SG Santiago Villena (’94) was shining then making some good decisions. But Herranz, always Herranz, made a three pointer before the ending of the first half and the players went to the locker room with the score 36-30 for Fuenlabrada.
Castro started the second half well again with 4 points, 6’4’’ SG David Villacañas (’93) added a dunk and with a basket by 6’9’’ PF Gaston Diedhou (’93) Torrejón was back up by one point. Villena then started to score from downtown and had a three, and Johns showed up with 2+1. Fuenlabrada was doing a great job stopping Herranz and Callenbach and Heredero made a few baskets. Torrejon started then a 1-2-2 with Diagne on top (51-45) but another three by Villena closed the 3rd quarter with a 9-point lead for Fuenlabrada. The difference went bigger when Callenbach added a three and Arce stole a ball to extend the lead to 14 (59-45). Torrejón wasn’t ready for Sunday yet, and Castro with 3 points, and Villacañas with a three pointer cut the margin to 7 (59-52). Callenbach started to feel confident, and scored a spectacular left-handed layup and drew several fouls. He missed some free throws though, and Castro kept playing hard. Herranz made a three pointer and the game was close again (62-56) with 14 points for the point guard. He then added a 2+1 and two more free throws and the score was 64-61 with 4 minutes left. With Johns out, Torrejón tried to play small ball too, but Villena scored 8 points with 2 more threes in these minutes and Fuenlabrada secured the win.
For Fuenlabrada, Callenbach ended up with 21 points. Villena added 20 with 4 threes, while Heredero was the X-factor with 13. Sergio Herranz made 21 for Torrejón, Castro added 13 and Cheickh Diagne made only 8 but grabbed 21 boards.
Standings: Fuenlabrada (2-0), Torrejon and Real Madrid (1-1) and Estudiantes (0-2).
