By Juan Cobos

For the third day in a row, Eurohopes was in Casarrubuelos for the Madrid U-18 Final Four. Torrejón and Estudiantes fought first for a spot at the Spanish Nationals final round, and Real Madrid and Fuenlabrada closed the weekend fighting for the Madrid crown. Check what happened.

Torrejón 61 – Estudiantes 72: We did't see lots of spectacular plays during the first quarter. 6’7’’ SF Edgar Vicedo (’94) didn't start de game and Torrejón led 17-13 at the end of the 1st quarter even 5'11'' PG Sergio Herranz ('93) was having problems to score. During the second quarter, with good minutes by 6’1’’ PG Juan Llorente (’93), Estudiantes made a run and took a 22-26 lead, with four and a half remaining. Torrejón used then again the 1-2-2 with 6’11 C Cheickh Diagne (’94) on top, and the game went to halftime with a 29-34 score for Estudiantes. In the third quarter, Herranz finally got momentum and scored seven straight points to make his count to 12, and the game went into minutes of doubts with Llorente missing shots and Torrejón missing free throws. With the score tied at 43, 6’8’ SF Filip Cvjeticanin ('93) made a 3, and after another basket by Estudiantes, the third quarter ended 43-48. Estudiantes was playing with the triple P: poise, passion and purpose. The fourth quarter started with Herranz as the only reliable scorer for Torrejón and Estudiantes trying to freeze the game, with 6-7 point leads. 6’8’’ C Diego Pérez (’93) appeared with several baskets and dominating the boards these minutes, With 2 minutes to go, 6’9’’ C Gaston Diedhou (’93) cut the lead to 4 (59-55) and Estudiantes, instead of keep freezing the game, started to shoot quick and to make wrong decisions. Cvjeticanin made another three (officialy his third) and Pérez made a basket to extend the lead to 9 with 1:20 to go. Despite Herranz makin a couple of threes and cutting the lead to 3 (64-61), Torrejón did not have a chance to win the game and eventually did not make it to the Spanish Nationals. Herranz with 23 points, and Diagne with 10 points and 22 rebounds for Torrejón, and Pérez (21 points, 16 rebounds) and Cvjeticanin with 13 with 3 three pointers for Estudiantes, best players in the game.

Real Madrid 94 – Fuenlabrada 71: The last game of the three days was actually a final. With starting 6’7’’ PF Arturo Gómez (’93) injured,  Fuenlabrada changed his starting frontcourt but 6’1’’ C Dylan Johns (’93) was still a 6th man.  6’4’’ SG Jonah Callenbach started on fire, making a three and a lot of ridiculous lay ups, and despite the efforts from 6’2’’ PG Jorge Sanz (’93) and 6’8’’ SF Dani Díez (’93), a three by Villena made it 15-9 with 5 minutes played. Callenbach already with 10 points. A three by Sanz, and the inside presence of 6’7’’ PF/C Julen Olaizola and 6’8’’ C Placide Nakidjim (’94), reduced the lead, and rotations started to be helpful with Callenbach suffering the defense now of 6’5’’ SG Kiko Jiménez (’94). Jiménez is the glue guy of this Real Madrid Team. Callenbach kept scoring though, and Real Madrid tried 6’0’’ PG Alberto Martín (’95) and his quickness on him. The first quarter finished with a 22-20 score with Real Madrid leading. The good news for Real Madrid were that Díez and Sanz had resting minutes, and for Fuenlabrada that they were still in the game with 6’4’’ SG Santiago Villena (’94) kind of missing in action, Johns only playing the last minutes and Gómez injured. In the second quarter Real Madrid extended the lead. Rotations were the key. Callenbach had already suffered the defense of Díez, Jiménez, Martín and now 6’6’’ SF Jorge Sánchez (’94). Real Madrid was defendind really intense and Sanz then was running fastbreaks with himself and Díez actually scoring in transition. With the score at 34-28 and three minutes left in the second quarter, a three by Sánchez started a 15-0 run which killed the game. Without Villena and Callenbach for two minutes, Fuenlabrada just could not answer. A Sanz show. The score at halftime was 51-29, and at the end of the third quarter 73-48. In a last effort, Fuenlabrada made a run and cut the lead to 15, 81-66, but could not cut it more. 6’9’’ C Guillermo Hernangomez (’94) gave good minutes in the second half and in Fuenlabrada 6’5’’ SF Héctor Grande (’93) was the only offensive help for Callenbach. Sanz and Díez finished with 28 points apiece. Nakidjim grabbed 15 rebounds and Callenbach scored 26 points.

Jorge Sanz was selected MVP of the Final Four while Jonah Callenbach received the best scorer award.
 

Finals standings: 1-Real Madrid (2-1), 2-Fuenlabrada (2-1), 3-Estudiantes (1-2), 4-Torrejón (1-2). 

 

Photo: www.fbm.es