Marty Pocius leads Real Madrid past Belgacom Spirou Basket 93-89 – Euroleague Recap
Marty Pocius scored a game-high 20 points, including game-winning free throws with five seconds to go, as Real Madrid beat Belgacom Spirou Basket 93-89 on November 24 in the Spanish capital.
Real Madrid have now improved to 4-2 in Group C and their chances to seal a Top 16 spot in the 2011-12 Turkish Euroleague regular season are quiet bright. Belgacom Spirou, meanwhile, slipped to 1-5 with fourth consecutive loss.
“We won easy there and today we snot the same. It was a game with a fast pace where we could all see all the good shooters,” Real Madrid Head Coach Pablo Laso said.
Pocius, the two-time BBL Champion, also grabbed four rebounds and ended on 7 for 9 from the field to go along with 6 for 8 from free throw line. Jaycee Carroll came off the bench with 16 points on 4 for 6 shooting from the field
while Nikola Mirotic and Serge Ibaka added 12 points each for Madrid. Ibaka also blocked five crucial shots of the visiting team.
Five Belgacom players reached double figures in the losing effort. Chris Hill led the Spirou Basket with 18 points, four assists and four rebounds while Demond Mallet contributed 15 points, four assists and two steals. Justin Hamilton
had 13 points, five assists and four steals while Toko Shengelia ended with 11 points and five rebounds.
Real Madrid shot 73.6 percent (28 for 38) from two-point range and 87.5 percent (28 for 32) from free throw line. Belgacom, on the other hand, hit 25 for 42 (59.5 percent) from the floor and 9 for 16 (56.2 percent) from the line.
Madrid raced to a 6-0 lead within the first two minutes of the first quarter. Justin Hamilton turned it on with 10 of his points in the opening period as Spirou carried a 27-21 lead into the second. Belgacom could never really
get a lot of momentum early in the second quarter as Real Madrid erased their deficit and tied the game at 39 with three minutes remaining in the first half of the game.
Spirou Basket handled the situation for the next couple of minutes and went ahead by 44-41 before Madrid posted four consecutive points to take one-point lead. Hill then hit a two-pointer to put Belgacom ahead by one but Jaycee
Carroll answered with a shot from downtown give Madrid a two-point lead at halftime. Spirou Basket played a better game in the third quarter but Real Madrid kept up the defensive pressure and maintained a 70-69 lead after 30 minutes of action.
Madrid’s reserves put up an impressive performance in the fourth quarter and pushed their lead to 91-86. Caleb Green stepped up with a two-point play and Hamilton hit a free throw to cut the deficit to two, 91-89. However, Pocius
sealed the victory on a pair of free throws.
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