Sports

Barzilians Marcelino Huertas and Tiago Splitter scored 17 and 15 points respectively to help Caja Laboral beat Real Madrid 74-80 and nearly secure the second place of the regular season of the ACB basketball league.

For Real Madrid, Llul scored 23 points, former Caja Laboral player Pablo Prigioni added 22 and Velickovic and Reyes had 12 each.

The Basques bossed the first two quarters and seized a 10-point lead quite soon, 7-18. They extended their lead to 18 points in the second quarter, 17-35 but Real Madrid reacted and cut the deficit to 11 points at halftime, 35-46.

The hosts continued cutting the deficit and trailed by just two points with seven minutes left to play but never took the lead in the scoreboard. Caja Laboral had the greater stamina in the end and secured a very important win.