FC Barcelona will take on Real Madrid in the final at the ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT in L’Hospitalet after Barcelona fended off Baloncesto Seville 74-70 in the semi-finals. Atoumane Diagne led Barcelona with 13 points and 11 rebounds while Maxim Esteban scored 12 points and Pol Figueras had 10 points. Seville, which won the Rome qualifying tournament last summer, was paced by Tomeu Rigo with 18 points while Carlos Hidalgo had 12 points, three rebounds, five assists and three steals, and Leo Cizmic and Eduardo Perez De La Blanca both scored 10 points in the loss. 

There were two ties early at 4-4 before Nedim Dedovic nailed a three-ball for a 4-7 lead. Juan Oliva and Rigo converted layups to send Seville ahead 8-7 and it was 11-7 after a Rigo three-ball. Esteban answered right back with a three-pointer of his own and two Diagne free throws had Barcelona back up 11-12. A Dedovic jumper was followed by a steal and layup by Figueras for a 12-16 Barcelona cushion. Barcelona did not score the rest of the quarter and Rigo scored and Malik Eichler tipped in a miss as the game was knotted at 16-16 after 10 minutes. Martinez started the second quarter by putting back an offensive rebound and Aleix Font made it 16-20. After Rigo finally got Seville on the scoreboard with two free throws. Hugo Bartolome nailed a three-ball and Eric Martinez scored two tough baskets as Barcelona opened a 20-29 cushion. Cizmic made it 24-31 and a trey and two free throws by Hidalgo brought Seville to within 30-31. Figueras responded with a three-pointer but Cizmic hit from downtown at the other end and Oliva scored inside to give Seville the lead 35-34. And it was 36-34 at the break. 

Alejandro Mazaira knotted the game to start the second half and Stefan Peno’s three gave Barcelona the lead back 38-39. A trey by Mazaira made it 40-42. Oliva and Perez scored for Seville and a Jose Blazquez triple made it 47-43. Esteban responded with a three-ball of his own as well as two free throws as the lead went back to Barcelona 47-48. Rigo knocked down two three-pointers as Seville pushed back ahead for a 55-51 lead, and it was 57-52 after Oliva’s hook in the lane. Diagne came up with basket in the paint and a free throw and two foul shots by Figueras had Barcelona as close as 59-58 after three quarters. Jaume Sorolla opened the fourth quarter with his first basket to put Barcelona ahead 59-60. Cizmic responded with a three-ball but Esteban answered right back with a triple and Bartolome hit a driving layup and Dedovic converted off an in-bounds play to push the lead out to 62-67 with six minutes left. While Seville continued to come up empty-handed on offense - with three turnovers and two missed shots since Cizmic’s three-pointer - Figueras nailed a three-ball to increase the lead to 62-70. Cizmic finally scored again for Seville but Mazaira matched him at the other end to make it 64-72 with 4:21 minutes left. Hidalgo made three free throws to trim it to 67-72 but Diagne put back an offensive rebound as Barcelona was up 67-74. Seville would not go down without a fight as Rigo drained a long three-ball to get the gap down to 70-74 with 49 seconds left. But Rigo missed his three-pointer with 12 seconds remaining to secure Barcelona’s win.