U18 FC Barcelona Lassa booked its spot in the 2016 EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Finals Championship Game by racing past U18 Zalgiris Kaunas 66-83 to win Group A with a perfect 3-0 record. Sergi Martinez’s 22 points paced Barcelona, which secured its third berth in the final thanks to a 0-14 run to start the second half. Eric Vila, Aleix Font and Rodions Kurucs all scored 13 points for Barcelona, which is one victory from its maiden ANGT title after losing to U18 FMP in the 2008 final and U18 Joventut Badalona in 2013. The two-time champion Zalgiris missed a chance to reach the final for a sixth time despite Gytis Masiulis collecting 17 points and 8 rebounds. Lukas Uleckas scored 15 points and Arnas Velicka had 14 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists in Zalgiris’ second loss of the ANGT Finals.

Zalgiris came into the game knowing it needed a 6-point victory to advance to the Championship Game. And the Lithuanian side scored the first 6 points of the game. Martinez finally got Barcelona on the board after nearly 3 minutes of action. Font made it 6-4 and Barcelona trailed 10-6 when Vila’s three-ball started an 0-9 spurt for a 10-15 lead. Ignas Sargiunas and Masiulis both knocked down three-pointers to put Zalgiris back ahead 16-15 before Raimon Carrasco’s score had Barcelona up 16-18 after 10 minutes. The game remained tight throughout the second quarter even though Barcelona reeled off 6 straight points to move ahead 18-24. Velicka, Uleckas and Dziugas Slavinskas all drained long balls and Velicka added a three-point play in a 15-4 Zalgiris run to move ahead 33-28. Maxim Esteban and Vila both hit from long range as Barcelona moved back ahead 35-36 before Uleckas was on target from long range to put Zalgiris up 38-36. Barcelona hit the final 4 points of the first half to go up 38-40 at the break.

Barcelona broke the game open for good at the start of the second half as Font and Martinez combined for 12 points in an 0-14 surge for a 38-54 lead. Masiulis finally put Zalgiris in the scoring column at the 5:41 minute mark before Kurucs drained a long ball to make it 40-57. Slavinskas and Uleckas both knocked down triples to get the margin down to 48-58. But Barcelona had the final 4 points of the quarter to lead 48-62. Masiulis and Velicka tried to get Zalgiris closer in the fourth quarter but Esteban hit two treys and Kurucs and Martinez were both on target once from long range as the Spanish side was ahead 58-78 with 3:53 minutes to play. Martinez added 2 more baskets for Barcelona, which never let Zalgiris get closer than 14 points in the fourth quarter.