Lucero powers Independiente past Tigre

Oct 28, 2014 - 4:27 PM Buenos Aires, Argentina (SportsNetwork.com) - Juan Martin Lucero bookended the first half with goals on Saturday as Independiente claimed a 3-1 win over Tigre at the Estadio Libertadores de America.

Coming off a 2-1 win over San Lorenzo in league play last time out, Independiente was riding a nice wave of confidence and used that positive momentum to take a quick lead as Lucero opened the scoring in the first minute of play.

Pablo Vitti buried an equalizer in the 40th minute for Tigre, but Lucero fired home his second goal of the day on the stroke of halftime to give his side the lead.

Federico Mancuello put the result away with a goal in the 56th minute as the hosts coasted to the final whistle to claim the points and climb to third place in the table with 26 points, while Tigre stays in 10th place on 17 points.

Also in Argentina on Saturday, Lucas Pratto's 54th minute tally held up as the winner to give Velez Sarsfield a 1-0 result against Banfield, while Maxi Rodriguez scored in stoppage time to help Newell's claim a point in a 2-2 draw with Godoy Cruz.

Gabriel Hauche and Juan Manuel Cobo traded goals as Olimpo and Racing played to a 1-1 stalemate.

On Sunday, Matias Aguirregaray scored nine minutes from time to lift Estudiantes to a 1-0 win over 10-man Quilmes, while Lautaro Acosta's 20th- minute goal gave Lanus a 1-0 result over San Lorenzo.

Juan Manuel Martinez scored a pair of first-half goals to help Boca Juniors take a 2-0 win over Defensa y Justicia, while Leonardo Nicolas Pisculichi and Ariel Mauricio Rojas scored in a span of 16 second-half minutes to lift River Plate to a 2-1 win over Atletico Rafaela.

The win keeps River Plate atop the table with 31 points, four clear of second- place Lanus.

Monday's action saw Brahian Aleman Athaydes net the lone goal in Arsenal's 1-0 home win over Gimnasia LP.