There will be two Spanish teams in the FIBA Basketball Champions League Final

BAXI Manresa has advanced to the Basketball Champions League Final after getting by MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg 63-55 in the second Semi-Final to set up a Spanish derby with Lenovo Tenerife.

Manresa has now won all nine games in which they were leading at the end of the first 10 minutes in the BCL this season, while Ludwigsburg has lost 20 of their last 21 BCL games where they were trailing at the end of the third quarter.

There wasn’t much separation between the two teams in the first half, as both teams led by as many as five points, and the score was all tied up at 35 after the first 20 minutes of play. This was the first time a BCL Semi-Final game was tied at the half.

Manresa could outscore Ludwigsburg 20-14 in the third quarter to grab a 55-49 lead heading to the last quarter. Manresa weathered the storm and ground the rest of the game out in a very low-scoring fourth quarter (8-6 in favor of Manresa).

In the other semi-final game of the FIBA Basketball Champions League, Lenovo Tenerife got past Hapoel U-NET Holon 78-71 to reach Sunday’s Championship game.

Tenerife has now reached the BCL Final for the third time, the most by any team in league history.

In the game against Holon, Tenerife held a 42-33 lead at halftime and led by as many as 12 points in the first half. Holon got to within five points in the third quarter but still trailed 51-59, heading to the fourth quarter. Holon took their first lead on a Rafael Menco three-pointer with 3:47 left in the final quarter, but Txus Vidorreta switched to his favorite one-two punch to close the game out.

Marcelinho Huertas first set Giorgi Shermadini up for two points, then scored three of his own to take the air out of the arena. Holon only scored two points over the last three and a half minutes, while Tenerife had 10 in the same span.

Marcelinho Huertas almost recorded a double-double with 17 points, nine assists, and four assists.