Revenge-minded Barcelona rolls past Gran Canaria for 2-0 mark

U18 FC Barcelona exacted a bit of revenge while remaining perfect in Group A of the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Valencia with an 85-47 victory over U18 Herbalife Gran Canaria. Aaron Ganal and Ian Granja both scored 12 points and Agustin Ubal and Teodor Simic both tallied 10 points for the winners, who moved to 2-0 in Group A. Every Barcelona player scored at least 2 points and Rafa Villar picked up 7 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists and 5 steals. Gran Canaria dropped to 1-1 despite Matheus Brito scoring 16 points while star Jean Montero was held to just 7 points. These two teams faced off in their final group game at last season’s ANGT Valencia with Gran Canaria winning 72-55 to reach the first place game, which it would eventually also win. Six players on the current Barcelona squad played in that loss.

Barcelona started the game hot from long range with Granja sandwiching three-pointers around a triple from Michael Caicedo for a 9-5 early lead. Caicedo added four more points and the lead was 17-9. And Ganal came off the Barcelona bench with two triples for a 27-16 margin after 10 minutes. After Eddy-Valentino Pinedo started the second quarter for Gran Canaria, Ganal added four more points as the cushion grew to 34-18. Ubal chipped in five points for Barcelona and the margin swelled to 48-28 at the break.

Ubal’s three-pointer early in the second half increased the lead to 54-30 and Barcelona did not slow down with Simic scoring six points in a 14-2 close to the third quarter and a 68-34 advantage after 30 minutes. Gael Bonilla hit a three-pointer to start a 7-0 run early in the fourth quarter to push the margin out to 75-36 and end any doubts. Gran Canaria did not get closer than 24 points the rest of the way.