Regal Barça confirmed top spot in the regular ACB season with 26 point win over Lagun Aro on Sunday and are mathematically champions with two games still to play.
STATS
REGAL FC BARCELONA, 81
LAGUN ARO GBC, 55
Regal FC Barcelona (18+23+21+19): Rubio (12), Navarro (10), Vázquez (14), Lorbek
(15), Anderson (5) – starting five - Sada (5), Perovic (-), Ingles (7), Ndong (9),
Morris (-), Grimau (4)
Lagun Aro GBC (16+17+14+8): Panko (7), Miralles (3), Doblas (8), Salgado (2),
Baron
(17) – starting five - Uriz (5), Lasa (3), Kone (8), Freimanis (2)
Referees: De la Maza, Montserrat and Pérez Niz
There was no slip up against Lagun Aro as Xavi Pascual’s men, who’s clearly learnt
their lesson from the game in the first part of the season, powered to an 81-55 win, thanks in
large part to a solid defence, an inspired Ricky Rubio and a third quarter display that opened up a
big gap.
Good start from visitors
Lagun Aro shooter Jimmy Baron put the Barça defence under pressure early on with a couple of
three pointers and the visitors scored 10 quick points without reply before Barça reacted with 8
points themselves, including two three pointers from Ricky Rubio.
The Catalan was on fire, not just with his scoring (4 out of 5 exterior
shot success), but also in the organisation of the team, who found their rhythm in the second
quarter, when Joe Ingles and Roger Grimau came off the bench to give them a lift. Ricky’s
third three pointer put Barça 10 points up and Lagun Aro had no reply and though Doblas had some
success under the basket, it was Vazquez who had the last word of the half with a basket on half
time to leave the scores at 44-33.
Third quarter settles the game
Barça upped their game in the third quarter and steam rollered over the Basque team, whose
coach Pablo Lasa was forced to call a time out at 55-35 to try and halt the flow of points the
hosts were racking up.
That worked for a moment, with the visitors cutting the lead to 11 points, but only for a
moment, as Fran Vazquez celebrated his 28th birthday with a splendid performance(25 valuation, 14
points and 12 rebounds) to open up a 26 point lead that had the fans on their feet applauding the
new regular season champs!