By Euroleague

Club Joventut Badalona is the champion of the 2013 Nike International Junior Tournament after a one-sided victory over FC Barcelona Regal, 82-59, on Sunday afternoon at The O2 in London. This is the first NIJT title for Joventut and it came in great fashion. Joventut won all its games in the tournament by double figures and saved its best performance for the grand finale against its Catalan archrival. The new champion qualified for London by winning the L'Hospitalet qualifying tournament earlier this season and now completed a great season for its youth team. Joventut showed throughout the season that it was an elite team and did so in style. Alberto Abalde led the winners with 18 points on 8-for-14 shooting plus 9 rebounds, followed by Agusti Sans who scored 14 and dished 5 assists. Jose Nogues added 13 points and Marc Bauza tallied 10 with 7 rebounds. For Barcelona Marc Garcia collected 18 points and Adria Cantenys finished with 14 points and 7 rebounds. 

 

Ludvig Hakanson scored half of Barcelona's first 10 points to give his team a 1-point lead, but Abalde took over and collected 9 points by the end of the first quarter, by when his team led 23-19. An 8-0 run by Badalona in the first part of the second quarter pushed the gap to 33-21. Marc Garcia scored from behind the arc for Barcelona to make it 38-26, but Assalit and Abalde replied quickly to give their team a 20-point lead before Cantenys set the halftime score with a shot from behind the arc. Barcelona opened the second half with hopes to come back from the 17-point deficit, but a 15-0 run led by Nogues, Sans and capped by Abalde made it 61-31 with 4:30 to play in the third quarter. Barcelona never managed to climb out of the hole, while Joventut enjoyed every second on the floor and pleased the fans with great plays until the final buzzer. 

 

Also, the All-Tournament team was named. It was formed by Marc Garcia (FC Barcelona Regal), Nedim Buza (OKK Spars Sarajevo), Doko Salic (OKK Spars Sarajevo), Alberto Abalde (Club Joventut Badalona) and Agusti Sans (Club Joventut Badalona). Abalde was also named MVP of the tourney.