The League leaders come out on top in tight clash

Real Madrid won at the WiZink Center to clinch their 21st league victory, a seventh in a row home turf, to remain top of the pile. Chus Mateo's boys edged the clash in the final seconds, following a hard-fought battle with Lenovo Tenerife. At 78-77, Guy missed his shot and in the very next play Llull hit two free throws to make sure of the result. Tavares was the top performer with a double-double for a PIR of 20, alongside Hezonja (10 points and 19 PIR) and Poirier (10 and 16).

The crowd packed into the WiZink Center were expected a huge match-up and the early stages did not disappoint. The two teams got underway scoring freely with a battle from three between Hezonja (8 points) and Fitipaldo (9) to make it 13-13 (min. 5). From that point, Tenerife took advantage of our team's turnovers to race to a 0-7. Madrid reacted with a 7-2 thanks to Musa, Tavares and Abalde to move just in front in a tight opening quarter (20-19).

Evenly-matched affair
In the second period, Chus Mateo put a tall five on court to win the rebound and stop the opposition under their hoop. Despite the evenly matched nature of the game and the pace delivered by Huertas, our boys did find space through Poirier and Deck (32-32; min. 16). But Lenovo upped the level at the back and again made the most of the hosts' turnovers to head into the break in the lead 38-41.

Following half-time, the visitors stepped on the gas with two successive triples to build up a +6 advantage (24’). Real Madrid responded immediately and decisively. Musa posted 7 points and the imperious Tavares was dominant in the paint (10 points and 8 rebounds), pushing the league leaders on with an 11-2 run that saw them edge ahead on the scoreboard (54-51). The team was improving their percentages now but the Tenerife outfit refused to drop out the game and it would be decided in the final quarter (63-59).

Exciting finish
Neither five was going to give up any ground but Madrid found another gear at the start of the fourth to clinch an 8-0 run including a sublime Llull triple (71-63; min. 35). Tenerife hit back though, fighting for the win through Guy, who found five points in a row. With the scores at 78-77 with 40 seconds to play, both the US-born ace and Fernández missed key shots. In the next move, Llull was fouled and hit both free throws to seal a hard-fought win for our side in a tense closing spell (80-78).