Manresa upset FC Barcelona, lift Catalan League title / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Catalan Basketball Federation Credit Catalan Basketball Federation

BAXI Manresa's exceptional performance in the fourth quarter of the Catalan League final was simply too much for FC Barcelona to handle as Pedro Martinez's men cruised to a victory 81-70 (16-21, 20-16, 17-19, 28-14).

The tournament was held in the "Nou Congost" gym in Manresa, where the local team celebrated its 3rd title of such competition but the first in 22 years (the last one was in 1999, in Granollers). In addition, Manresa stopped a two-game losing streak in the Catalan League finals against Barcelona. Ismael Bako was voted MVP after scoring 18 points.

Credit BAXI Manresa

Yankuba Sima put up 15 points for the winning side. Joe Thomasson contributed with 14, Sylvain Francisco with 13, and Guillem Jou with 11 points. On the losing side, Latvian forward Rolands Smits rolled in a team-high 14 points. Nick Calathes put up 13 points and Nikola Mirotic ten points but was limited to just 4/16 field goals.

Credit FC BarcelonaThe final kicked off with a high level of intensity from both sides. Laprovittola and Mirotic were the leading men for FC Barcelona at the beginning. Rolands Smits and Nigel Hayes provided quality minutes to Saras's squad (20-30) before Manresa reacted with a 16-7 partial score to close the gap to one point (36-37) at half-time.

Joe Thomasson was the winners' best player in the third period, which ended on a Rokas Jokubaitis's basket (53-56). Sima, Bako, and Thomasson took Barca by storm in the last period. For the "Blaugrana", Kyle Kuric tried to signal a comeback, but to no avail. After a scoring run of 28-14, it was impossible for Manresa not to win the tournament.

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