FC Barcelona picked up its second straight victory at the ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT in L’Hospitalet by knocking off Union Olimpija Ljubljana 76-62 in the start of Group B play on Day Two. Alejandro Mazaira led Barcelona with 13 points while Jaume Sorolla scored 12 points, Stefan Peno collected 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals and Nedim Dedovic picked up nine points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Barcelona, which improved to 2-0, out-rebounded Union Olimpija 49-30 and survived making just 10 of 17 free throws (58 percent). Olimpija dropped to 1-1 despite 14 points from Luka Kraljevic while Blaz Mesicek had 13 points, nine rebounds, two assists and three steals; and Nejc Martincic added 11 points in a losing effort.

Kraljevic scored the first basket of the game to give Union Olimpija its only lead of the game at 0-2. Eric Martinez scored four points in a 10-2 Barcelona run to pull ahead 10-4. Mesicek nailed a three-ball to get the Slovenian club to within 10-9. Barcelona pulled away again to lead 18-11 before a trey from Martincic to make it 18-14. Sorolla finished the scoring in the first quarter with his third basket for a 20-14 Barca advantage after 10 minutes. Kraljevic opened the second quarter to trim the deficit to four points but Maxim Esteban answered with a three-ball and Olimpija went scoreless for three and a half minutes to allow Barcelona to pull ahead 29-20. After Kraljevic stopped the scoring drought, Roger Renau nailed a triple and Atoumane Diagne scored to push the lead to 34-22. Mazaira drained a three-ball to increase the margin to 37-24 and Peno’s triple made it 42-29. The advantage was 43-29 after 20 minutes.

Olimpija came out of the break strong with Martincic and Vlatko Cancar both hitting threes and Aljaz Stopar scoring a layup to get within 43-37. Mazaira responded with two scores to re-establish a double-digit lead, 47-37. Haris Cucovic scored to trim the deficit to 49-45 but Esteban nailed a trey and Hugo Bartolome came up with a steal and layup for a 56-47 lead. And the Barcelona cushion was 58-49 after three quarters. Sorolla extended the lead to 60-49 to start the fourth before Martincic hit a three-ball and Mesicek converted a three-point play to get Olimpija to within 66-59. Peno punched right back with a three-point play and Dedovic followed with a three-pointer to make it 72-59 with two minutes left. Olimpija would not get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.