Valencia rolls past Barcelona for third place

Host side U18 Valencia Basket finished the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Valencia in third place after picking up a 98-72 victory over 2016 continental champion U18 FC Barcelona. Alonso Faure collected 27 points and 14 rebounds for Valencia while Millan Jimenez had 18 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals, Alejandro Ruiz scored 16 points, Alejandro Bellver had 10 points and Guillem Ferrando added 9 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists. Valencia, which won the qualifying tournament last season, out-rebounded Barcelona 45-32 and forced 22 Barcelona turnovers. Pau Tendero was Barcelona’s only player in double figures with 20 points while Ibou Badji chipped in 2 points and 6 blocks in 11 minutes.

Valencia pulled away for the first time with Faure scoring six points and Jimenez and Ruiz hitting three-pointers in a 14-5 run to lead 23-11. And the host side scored the final seven points - including Bellver’s three-ball at the buzzer - for a 30-15 advantage after 10 minutes. Ruiz and Jimenez both hit treys early in the second quarter and another Ruiz long ball helped make it 46-24. Badji worked hard on defense, blocking six shots in the second quarter alone - while Tendero scored eight points in a 6-12 surge to get Barcelona within 52-36 at the break. Tendero picked up two baskets as the gap was 56-43 early in the third frame but Ferrando had a three-point play and Freds Bagatskis nailed a three-pointer for a 64-45 lead and Valencia put together a 10-0 surge to move ahead 74-48. The lead was 78-53 after 30 minutes. Another Tendero score trimmed the deficit to 24 points - 81-57 - but Barcelona could not put together enough stops to get back into the game.