One more and they are 13. UEMC Baloncesto Valladolid won and won again, as that one would say, and it was also a match without much brilliance. Against CB Starlabs Morón, another of the great candidates for promotion, David Barrio’s team won with skill, solidity and solvency in an uncomfortable context for them: with a very physical level of contacts and in a tight duel. The locals dominated the game practically at all times and scored in the final minutes, with success and solvency, to position themselves anecdotally as the sole leaders, since Coto Córdoba CB is not playing this day as their match against Paraíso Interior CB Jaén has been postponed.
Aware of the toughness that the Castilian team was going to need against one of the greats of the category, the squirrels began the clash looking for the rim with verticality and strength, showing the credentials from the moment the ball was thrown into the air. The UEMC Baloncesto Valladolid took advantage of CB Starlabs Morón’s fouls very quickly, quickly putting them in bonus. A sowing effort that later allowed the fruits from the personnel line. Thus, with Juan García-Abril as the starter (and I can finally go to the ‘three’, his natural position) and antidote to pairing with José Alberto Jiménez, the Andalusians’ offensive mainstay, David Barrio’s men got off to a good start. Serious, intense and solid, as the appointment demanded.
Precisely after a series of good actions by the purple captain, the youth player ‘Juanga’, Pucela took command to not let him go. The ‘5’ added the paint and added offensive rebounds, also scored from three and courageously led the home team’s performance (7-4). The second unit of the Valladolid team, as usual, did the rest. David Barrio’s rotation increased performance when he entered the hardwood and practically doubled a CB Starlabs Morón in the score, who crashed again and again against the home team’s defense (11-6). In that section he was stopped by foreigner José Antonio Santaella and his team improved immediately, turning the score around and finishing the quarter successfully and ahead (18-19).
The second round began with Pau Carreño’s debut at home this season. After a few unfortunate months of injuries, the Catalan forward played his first minutes in Pisuerga, with a UEMC Baloncesto Valladolid team now suffering against the Moronero’s success (20-24). The squirrels resisted the downpour and quickly changed the dynamic, going back up in reverse gear. As happened in the first round, the squirrels’ defensive and pick-and-shovel work, searching for the hoop with force, won the prize. bonus of a visiting team that began to become loaded with personnel.
Edu Arqués led a 9-0 run (29-24), even with a visitor’s timeout in between, and returned command to a UEMC Baloncesto Valladolid growing up. The fruits of the bonus did not take long to arrive against a Starlabs Morón CB that stopped every purple possession with a foul… and free throws. Although David Barrio’s men left a few behind (11/16 in the first half), they managed to maintain the defensive standard and opened the gap with two consecutive triples from a differential Pau Carreño. At halftime, the squirrels came in with a haul of 10 points (43-33) that could have been higher if it weren’t for the concessions from the personnel line.
Solvent and successful at key moments
Until now, the Castilians surpassed the CB Starlabs Morón of the Marín brothers, Alo and Javi in all aspects of the game, except for success from the free kick, but the script changed after passing through the locker room. The Sevillians came out better than Pucela and began an attempt at a comeback that David Barrio had to stop with a timeout (46-42). The worrying partial was 3-9 until the local coach stopped it.
Santaella’s team did not give up in their efforts to come back and continued to improve, taking steps until they were within striking distance, but they could not make that final leap. That of getting ahead after many minutes in tow, that of confirming the change of command. He was prevented by a UEMC Baloncesto Valladolid that was not good in attack during that stretch, but was consistent behind and on the rebound. The Andalusians were within one point on two occasions (48-47), but the locals stopped the attempt in time and stretched again (52-47). Edu Arqués assumed honors and a free throw from a free throw went up to 16 points (60-52), leading the Valladolid team in the final stretch of the third quarter, although a triple at the Moroneros’ horn concluded it in the worst way for the locals (62-59).
With a scare due to a medical problem in the stands, which fortunately remained just that, in a scare, the start of the last round was delayed a few minutes. And there the departure of UEMC Baloncesto Valladolid became even more important, which had to prevent CB Starlabs Morón from believing again at all costs. And the truth is that the Andalusians achieved the tie (62-62), setting off all the alarms in a Pisuerga that responded in adversity.
Two consecutive baskets by the Pablos, Martín and Marín, put out the fire (66-62) and the rhythm of the visitors. In defense, David Barrio’s team closed for several minutes, reigned in the rebound and hit the umpteenth stretch with six minutes left. Jacob Hanna went to the infirmary with a blow he received after a big block and the American with a Bahamian passport did not play again, but it ended in cramps, without any seriousness.
Thus, UEMC Baloncesto Valladolid brought out its best version in the key stretch of the match, or at least the most pragmatic. A triple by Ice Haney finally increased the cushion (69-62). The tension increased and failures occurred under the rim on both sides, but always with a margin of safety that the local team did not waste. The North American sniper, with renewed confidence and released in the corner, did not fail and put the finishing touch with three minutes remaining (76-67).
Coach José Antonio Santaella could not revive his team, who tried to avoid it with a time-out, and the Andalusians did not stop trying. UEMC Baloncesto Valladolid did not concede more and was accurate from the free throw to the sentencing in the carousel of comings and goings to the line. The advantage was enough until the final 84-77 and that became eternal with the endless number of fouls called in the final stretch, with the result already decided. In those final minutes without history, however, Pablo Hernández found the reward of a few moments on the field, and with the youth player on the court he concluded Pucela’s thirteenth victory.
The UEMC Baloncesto Valladolid will visit Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. in a very demanding derby that will once again test the good form of the squirrels.
84 – UEMC Baloncesto Valladolid: Pablo Marín (8), Isaac ‘Ice’ Haney (7), Juan García-Abril (7), Iñaki Ordóñez (10), Fares Ochi (3 -starting quintet-. Also playing: Jacob Hanna (8), Pau Carreño (6), Pau Isern (13), Pablo Martín (6), Pablo Hernández (0), Edu Arqués (16) and José Montilla (-).
77 – CB Starlabs Morón: Javi Marín (14), Alejandro Marín (17), José Alberto Jiménez (10), Antonio Burgos (4), Volmyr Orlov (9) – Early Awards -. It is also used: Kevin Navarro (), Gonzalo Fernandez (3), Álvaro Herrera (3), souleman chabiyo (0), Luis Parejo (5), Sidnei Correa (4) and Zion Williams (8).
Partials: 18-19, 25-14, 19-26 and 22-18 (84-77 final).
Referees: Álvarez-Ossorio Varela and Pérez Hernández.
incidences: Match corresponding to the seventeenth day of the Second FEB, played at the Pisuerga Sports Center in Valladolid on Saturday, February 7, 2026 in front of nearly 3,400 spectators.
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