Barcelona finishes group play with emphatic win over Nanterre

U18 FC Barcelona finished its play in the group stage of the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Valencia with a comfortable 89-50 victory over U18 Nanterre 92. Michael Caicedo led the way with 18 points for 2016 continental champion Barcelona, which improved to 3-0 in Group A and will play in the first-place game on Tuesday. Ian Granja added 16 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists and Agustin Ubal chipped in 13 points in the victory. Nanterre finished at 0-3 despite Marc-Antonie Loemba scoring 17 points and Maxime Raynaud posting 14 points and 8 rebounds.

Loemba scored 5 points as Nanterre jumped ahead 0-7 in the first 4 minutes and Raynaud’s three-pointer made it 2-10. Barcelona got 9 points combined from Caicedo and Martin Iglesias in a 12-0 run over nearly 5 minutes to move ahead 15-10. It was 18-13 after 10 minutes. Iglesias extended the gap to 22-13 early in the second quarter and Ubal nailed a pair of triples for Barcelona to stay comfortably ahead. Daniel Ngufor connected from deep in helping Nanterre pull within 30-24, but Granja drained 2 triples and Caicedo and Ricardo Martin also knocked down three-pointers as Barcelona went into halftime ahead 44-29.

Loemba hit a three-pointer early in the second half and Barcelona responded with a 14-0 surge with two three-pointers from Caicedo for a 60-32 lead. Granja added two triples and Ubal also hit from deep as the margin grew to 76-38 and was 76-39 after 30 minutes. Nanterre never really was able to string together baskets and did not get closer than 34 points in the final quarter, while Barcelona pushed the lead out to 42 points.