U18 FC Barcelona Lassa locked up first place in Group B of the Euroleague Basketball ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Qualifying Tournament – Torneig de Bàsquet Junior Ciutat de L'Hospitalet by getting past U18 Torrons Vicens L’Hospitalet 89-71 on Monday evening. Sergi Martinez collected 20 points and 14 rebounds for Barcelona while Atoumane Diagne had 19 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks. Barcelona, which also got 15 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals from Aleix Font, 12 points from Raimon Carrasco and 10 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks from Eric Vila, improved to 2-0 in the group and cannot be overtaken for first place. Barcelona will square off against the second placed finisher from Group A in the ANGT L’Hospitalet semifinals on Wednesday morning. L’Hospitalet dropped to 1-1, but still has a chance to reach the semis. Nil Baques paced L’Hospitalet with 19 points, while Gerard Rodriguez had 17 points, Elies Velasco scored 12 and Andres Hernangomez chipped in 11 in the loss.

Font’s three-pointer started the game for Barcelona, which jumped ahead 7-0 before Baques finally got the hosts on the board with a three-pointer and Baques free throws knotted the game at 7-7. Barcelona worked the ball inside to Diagne, who tallied 5 points to make it 14-9. L’Hospitalet would not go away as Hernangomez, Daniel Garcia and Baques all knocked down threes to get to within 19-18. But L’Hospitalet failed to score on five straight possessions and Barcelona raced away with a 12-0 run. But Adria Martinez nailed a triple just before the first-quarter buzzer to make it 31-21. Velasco’s three started an 0-7 L’Hospitalet spurt to begin the second quarter only to see Carrasco’s three push the Barcelona advantage back to 9 points. L’Hospitalet fought back to cut the deficit to 38-34 and would not let Barcelona pull away. Rodriguez’s triple made it 42-37 and another Rodriguez three left L’Hospitalet trailing 48-42. The score was 50-42 at the break.

Barcelona opened the second half with an 8-1 surge to build a 58-43 cushion. Spurred on by the home crowd, L’Hospitalet fought on with Baques and Velasco hitting from behind the arc to get within 60-51. The margin shrunk to 62-56 after a Hernangomez tip-in. Carrasco’s triple extended the lead to double digits late in the third quarter, but Hernangomez punched right back from long range as L’Hospitalet got within 67-60 after 30 minutes. Maxim Esteban’s triple started a 9-0 Barcelona run to begin the fourth and build a 76-60 advantage. L’Hospitalet finally found the bottom of the net with a Rodriguez triple with six minutes to play. Baques free throws and a fast break layup closed the margin to 76-67 with four minutes left as L’Hospitalet would not go away. Martinez’s three-point play stopped the run and Barcelona proved to have too many weapons with Diagne throwing down a big dunk and Vila nailing a corner three to go up 84-69 with less than three minutes to play. L’Hospitalet did not get closer than 14 points the rest of the way.