Baxi Manresa buried their options to enter the Copa del Rey with an unappealable defeat against Barca. A defeat that was forged little by little, and that Barca certified after the break thanks to the direction of Calathes and the success of Kuric. Always in tow on the scoreboard, the locals came to cut the distance to just two points in the second quarter, but they were never able to match Barca’s intensity and success.
Baxi Manresa took to the court clearly wrong,
as demonstrated by the eight losses committed in the first five minutes, but they also found a good Barça defense. The Barça advantage, a logical consequence of the constant recovery of balls, could have been enormous because they had better success from the middle distance, although they quickly placed ten up (4-14). Calathes, far superior to Dani Pérez, commanded in the first minutes of the match while Higgins, very active, was Barça’s reference in attack.
To the recurring losses of recent weeks at Barça MitoricDavis and Claver) was added that of Roland Smits, at the last minute, for a good cause: he was a father before the game. Despite the limited options on the bench junior Caicedo entered the squad Barca’s second unit managed to maintain the advantage on the scoreboard, although Manresa was able to play more comfortably.
Janning’s triple to cap the 8-0 run that kicked off the second quarter was confirmation that something had changed in the game. Not only was Calathes no longer so fine, but Barça allowed Manresa to run, a sin that they paid for with their advantage on the scoreboard (21-22).
With Calathes and Westermann on the court, Barca looked for more control playing static and finding Pustovyi under the ring, undeniable in the heights. But Tabu Manresa’s best since he entered the court was in charge of keeping his team in the game either with a decisive triple or with good assists. Janning, successful in the shot also became a problem for Barca, as did Manresa’s outside shot in general poorly defended on too many occasions. The Barca success, personified in Kuric allowed them to go to rest with an advantage (38-49).
Caicedo, 17 years old
Barca came out determined not to get into trouble, extending the lead to 15 points (43-58, aware of their physical superiority, especially in defense. The usual losses for Manresa returned, a drain on the locals which Vaulet saved by keeping his team in the game. But those from Jasikevicius were not surprised they controlled the rebound scored easy baskets, and always had a response to Manresa’s actions. With ten minutes to go the game was already highly favored for Barça 57-73.
The last minutes of the game allowed Jasikevicius to rest his players with the longest time on the court while giving opportunities to the younger players. Caicedo, a 17-year-old junior, made his debut and had minutes with Badji.
