The Málaga Cup promises strong emotions after a heart-stopping debut in which Real Madrid, the undisputed favorite, showed that it also knows how to suffer and had to wait for the last play to breathe easy against the always combative UCAM Murcia. The whites will thus be in the semifinals after a duel that is much more even than expected given the losses of the pepper players, especially that of Hakanson. But with Campazzo as the undisputed leader, Chus Mateo's team managed to secure the victory and extend their return ticket to the capital for a couple more days.
Madrid put its letter of introduction on the table from the beginning with a 6-0 in which Deck already began to show that he was having one of those days – which are almost all of them – in which the ring hits like a knife with a ball. of icecream. But there are few tougher teams in this Cup than Sito Alonso's UCAM Murcia, which can be criticized for many things but never for its competitiveness. A four-point play by Sleva, triple and additional, corrected the university landing at Carpena.
Todorovic was eager to stand up to Madrid but little by little the white superiority began to translate into the scoreboard. Murcia insisted on shooting from three without any success (3/15 at half-time) and Chus Mateo's team, almost by inertia, with a cruising speed like no other in Europe, was adding points by deploying its entire arsenal. Tavares, Yabusele, Musa... up to seven Madrid players scored in the first quarter alone. It was Campazzo who raised the score to 23-15 before the horn, a result that began to mark territory.
Mario Hezonja scored 10 points in the second quarter, with the Croatian excelling as he began to crush a Murcia team that couldn't find solutions anywhere, no matter how intense its defense was. Llull, with a triple, turned on the red light on the Murcia bench at 42-27 (minute 18). But as if giving the game as a win, Madrid lowered its arms somewhat in those last seconds of the first half and allowed Murcia to go into the break deep in the game (44-34), giving rise to an electric second half.
Sito Alonso's team quickly broke the ten-point barrier, confirming that they did not plan to waste the door that Real Madrid had opened for them. He started Murcia running with an Ennis who looked like a bullet, capable of scoring 53-49 (minute 26). The targets had dried up, blocked by the overwhelming Murcian defense, which at the moment doubled Madrid's fouls, which barely lived off of those free kicks it generated.
Llull's figure grew again in the final quarter but not even the Menorcan player was able to put an end to the unbreakable faith of Sito Alonso's team, capable of reaching the final stretch fully immersed in the game. Sant-Roos' 71-70 was the minimum difference achieved by Murcia, who drowned on the shore due to Campazzo's display of leadership in the last plays, the Argentine charting the path to the semi-finals.
