Barça Regal have won the Catalan League for the third consecutive year, beating the same opponent each time. Joventut only really troubled them in the first period.
MATCH STATS
FIATC JOVENTUT, 54
FCB REGAL, 94
FIATC Joventut (18+14+15+7): Jeter (14), Jelinek (10), Obasohan (3), Llovet,
Williams (9) –starting five-, Trias, Todorovic (8), Van Lacke (4), Barrera (4), Oliver (2)
and Suárez.
FC Barcelona Regal (18+31+26+19): Huertas (6), Eidson (5), Rabaseda (5), Wallace
(6), Ndong (15) - starting five -, Lorbek (11), Ingles (13), Vázquez (9), Navarro (11), Sada (5)
and Perovic (8).
Referees: Juan Carlos Mitjana, Oscar Perea and Luis Guirao.
Nobody had expected Barça Regal to be quite so superior to Joventut, especially when the first
period ended 18-18, but especially in the second half, FCB were by far the better side. With
Boniface Ndong excelleing, they won by a massive 40 points.
Racking up twos
Barça raced into an early 7-2 lead, with Huertas and Eidson
distributing the ball well. A Lorbeck 2+1 made it 18-10, with FCB yet to score from anywhere other
than the paint. Joventut then came into their own with an 8-point streak to tie the period.
Defence and rebounds
Barça Regal needed to be more attentive in the second period, and Pascual managed to get the
very best out of his troops. Joventut struggled to contain FCB in defence, and also surrendered a
number of defensive rebounds to their local rivals.
Fran Vázquez added another 2+1 to make it 30-18 as Barça got the period off to a stunning
start. ‘La Penya’ tried to conjure some kind of response, with a couple of threes, but
an inspired Ndong (14 points at
half-time) left the side from Badalona floundering (49-32).
Wallace and 'Raba' make break
Barça Regal really started overpowering their opponents after the restart.
Navarro was now in on the act he and both Wallace and Xavi Rabaseda started converting
3-pointers to make it +22 and as good as sentence the match at 61-39.
With Victor Sada acting as central playmaker, the period ticked by with little sign of
trouble for FCB, whose rapid counter attacks were proving too much for a devastated rival, and the
third period ended with a comfortable cushion (75-45).
Cruising home
The last period was about Joventut trying to make the score a little bit more respectable,
and Barça ensuring that they failed to do so. In fact, foolishly lost balls against a vastly
superior opponent meant that Barça ended the match having doubled their lead in what had already
been a humiliating scoreline for the green and blacks, who have once again lost to Barcelona in a
Catalan league Final (94-54).