Barcelona to face Joventut in NIJT London Final Tomorrow

Carl Berman

11 May 2013

Blog

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FC Barcelona Regal and Club Joventut Badalona will meet in the final of the Euroleague’s Nike International Junior Tournament in London tomorrow. Both teams won their group with perfect 3-0 records to advance. Joventut won their group with a 75-62 win over Team China while Barcelona advances by beating INSEP Paris 74-55. The teams faced each other in the qualifying stage with Joventut winning 66-58.

Joventut had little trouble with China (1-2). They forced the Chinese into 25 turnovers which resulted in Joventut taking 22 more shots in the game. Joventut maintained a double-digit lead for much of the contest. 6’8 Jose Nogues led the winners with 21 points, shooting 8-of-13 on two-pointers. 6’4 Agusti Sans finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and eight assists while 6’5 Alberto Abalde scored 16 and hit three three-pointers. 6’5 Jinglong Li was the only player in double-figures for Team China with 14 points. Joventut came back from a two-point deficit at the end of the first quarter to score 25 second quarter points to take a ten-point halftime lead.

Marc Garcia

Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade (2-1) took care of Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius (0-3) 73-54. Rytas was the big disappointment of this event. 6’4  Brano Djukanovic led Zvezda with 19 points, hitting 5-of-7 three-pointers. 6’10 Dusan Ristic had a solid game with 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Rytas played their entire roster and had no one scored in double-figures. 6’5 Marko Guduric helped the winners with 14 points and seven rebounds. This game wasn’t close as Zvezda pulled out to a 16-point halftime lead and forced 26 Rytas turnovers in the contest.

FC Barcelona Regal’s 74-55 win over INSEP Paris (1-2) was not close either. They pulled out to an eight-point first quarter lead, led by ten at the half and pulled away from there. 6’6 Marc Garcia led Barcelona with 21 points, hitting three three’s. 6’11Milovan Draskovic added 19 points and 13 rebounds and 6’6 Adria Cantenys contributed 16 points and five rebounds for the winners. Damien Inglis was solid for INSEP with 15 points and nine rebounds. 6’8 Ywen Smock (1996) scored 14 points for INSEP.

Here’s Barcelona’s Head Coach Marc Calderon after yesterday’s win:

Team England (1-2) scored their first tournament win with a 78-61 win over OKK Spars Sarajevo (1-2). 6’3 Cal-Irvine recruit Luke Nelson had his best game of the event with  20 points, five rebounds and four assists although he still only shot 7-of-18. 6’2 Jules Dang Akodo (1996) added 17 points while 6’8 Kavell Bigby scored 14 points on perfect 5-of-5 shooting. Spars was led by 25 points from 6’0 Aleksej Nikolic (1995) and 20 points from their center, 6’10 Doko Salic.

Thanks to our scouts Alex Spirin and Ariel Parrucci for this report. Thanks to our media collaborators, the Euroleague for the photos. For a full set of photos please go to the Euroleague’s Gallery.

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