League leaders win in Palencia

The League leaders picked up another win on their first competitive visit to the Pabellón Municipal de Palencia and have now won their last five games in a row on the road following successes in Bolonia, Málaga, Berlin and Belgrade. Real Madrid's impressive start in the opening two quarters, recording runs of 0-12 and 0-13, was crucial in taking the win over Zunder Palencia. The hosts responded after the break, starting the last quarter ten down (56-66) but pulling it back to within three. Our team held on though, resisting the Palencia push to clinch their 23rd win in the league. Campazzo was the best performer with a PIR of 35: 15 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds.

Real Madrid enjoyed a stunning start on the basis of strong defense that gave Zunder Palencia no chance in the first five minutes. Luis Guil was forced to call an early timeout with the score at 0-12 after triples for Musa and Campazzo, four quick points for Tavares and Yabusele's basket on a swift transition. The hosts reacted, with an 11-0 run to cut our boys' lead, and the quarter finished 13-17 on a Rudy triple.

Chus Mateo's team was enjoyed a spectacular start to the second quarter as well, racing to 0-13 with Rudy's triple, Deck and Hezonja's four points and Alocén's basket. The scores were at 13-30 with 6:10 to go until the break. The home team reacted again, as they did in the first quarter, until getting back to within ten points with a 25-34 lead at just 2:47 to go. The league leaders pushed on once more to go into half-time at +13: 30-43, led by Campazzo, with a PIR of 20 and 9 points to his name.

The home team hit back
Zunder Palencia upped the aggression in defense at the beginning of the third quarter to avoid a repeat of the previous two periods, but our boys gave them no space at all and a 2-9 run increased the lead to 20 points: 32-52 with 6:37 to go. Another spectacular Campazzo triple (4/5) and two points for Musa (he finished this quarter with 11) made it 38-60. Another good spell for the hosts made it more interesting once more, and the game would be decided in the last ten minutes: 56-66.

The final quarter got underway in very different fashion, the hosts taking a 4-0 run to cut Chus Mateo's team's lead to six points. That figure was reduced further to just three with 5:11 left on the clock. It was a tight affair now, with Zunder Palencia running riot from three, but our boys withstood the onslaught and widened the gap once more for a 78-86 victory.

ZUNDER PALENCIA-REAL MADRID STATISTICS