U18 FC Barcelona Lassa held off a tough fight from U18 Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas to win 68-61 and grab first place in Group A of the EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Torneig de Bàsquet Junior Ciutat de L’Hospitalet. Andrija Marjanovic paced Barcelona with 14 points while Arnas Velicka collected 10 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks. In the semifinals, Barcelona which held Gran Canaria scoreless for the final 4 minutes, will face the winner between U18 Cedevita Zagreb and U18 Torrons Vicens L’Hospitalet later in Group B. Gran Canaria saw Biram Faye pick up 12 points and 15 rebounds but dropped to 2-1 in Group A and will play U18 Divina Seguros Joventut Badalona in the semifinals.

Barcelona was leading 6-4 when Gran Canaria went on a 0-10 run with two three-pointers for a 6-14 lead. The Gran Canaria advantage was 11-19 when Marjanovic began taking over, driving to the basket and getting 5 points to get Barcelona to within 17-19 after 10 minutes. Barcelona evened the game to start the second quarter, but Gran Canaria was ahead 23-29 thanks to two more triples. Luka Samanic came off the Barcelona bench and nailed a three-pointer to even the game at 29-29 and it was tight the rest of the half, which ended with Barcelona ahead 40-38. Things remained close the third quarter though a big three-pointer by Velicka helped make it 53-44. Gran Canaria ended the quarter strong but still trailed 55-48 after 30 minutes. Barcelona led 57-52 before Gran Canaria went on a run and evened the game at 61-61 on a reverse by Olek Balcerowski with 4:23 minutes to play. But Barcelona kept Gran Canaria scoreless the rest of the game and Sergi Martinez scored 2 points and came up with a big block down the stretch.