Valencia stuns Real Madrid, 105-110

Liga Endesa, Spain – League powerhouse Real Madrid is undefeated no more. They suffered their first loss at the hands of Valencia Basket, 105-110. Fans in attendance always expect to see an exciting offense-oriented performance when Real Madrid takes the floor. What their supporters at home were not counting on was that the visiting team from Valencia would be up to the task and in the end put up more points on the board compared to their hosts.

Both teams kicked off the game in similar fashion with Valencia able to keep in stride, falling behind just by one point at the end of the first quarter, 27-26. Real Madrid faltered in the second period, while Valencia rained down threes. The result was a stunned crowd having to witness Real Madrid trail Valencia 43-54 at halftime. When Sergio Llull and company made a push to retake the lead in the third, Valencia cranked things up a notch and the men in Orange found themselves up by 20 points heading into the final period. As expected, Real Madrid leaned on their reliable trio of Llull, Rodriguez and Fernandez to carry them in the last 12 minutes of action. The white shirts scored an impressive 39 points in the fourth, but Valencia did just enough and their 24-point output in the last quarter proved to be sufficient for them to hang on and win.

Top Performers:

Valencia: Romain Sato (17), Justin Doellman (15), Vladimir Lucic (15), Ksistof Lavrinovic (15), Sam Van Rossom (11), Bojan Dubljevic (11), Oliver Lafayette (11)

Real Madrid: Sergio Llull (23), Rudy Fernandez (18), Sergio Rodriguez (16), Tremell Darden (14), Felipe Reyes (13)