Barcelona advances to the semifinals of the Copa del Rey. After a fierce battle, they justified their role as favorites and defeated Manresa 102:91.
Barcelona advances to the final and will compete for their 28th Copa del Rey title. In the semifinals, they faced a tough challenge against Manresa and secured the win in the final minutes of the match, with Nicolas Laprovittola taking matters into his own hands.
Manresa started the game better. They were offensively sharp and quickly took a lead of 18:9. However, Barcelona woke up and after a 9:2 run, they narrowed the gap to 20:18, with the score 23:22 in favor of Manresa at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Barcelona managed to take the lead 37:32 after a mini 5:0 run. Once they took the lead, they didn’t relinquish it, and the favorites went into halftime with a 50:43 advantage.
In the third quarter, Manresa started stronger and managed to tie the game at 56:56 after an 11:2 run. Then, a similar situation occurred as in the end of the second quarter, with a mini run from Roger Grimau’s team giving them a lead of 74:67.
At the beginning of the final quarter, Manresa took the lead 76:75. The game continued with back-and-forth action, and there was a fierce battle for every possession. Then, with four and a half minutes remaining, Barcelona went on a mini run to take a 87:83 lead. Brandon Taylor stepped up for Manresa and after his new three-pointer, Manresa led 88:87.
Following two missed free throws by Brancou Badio, Barcelona regained the lead 91:88. In the next possession, Jabari Parker blocked the opponent’s shot, and Nicolas Laprovittola made two free throws to give Barcelona a 93:88 lead with two minutes remaining. After another unsuccessful possession by Manresa, Jan Vesely scored for a 95:88 lead. Manresa refused to give up, and after Devin Robinson’s three-pointer, the score was 95:91. However, Laprovittola hit another shot to lead his team to the semifinals.
Jabari Parker led the winning team with 19 points, Nicolas Laprovittola had one point less but contributed with eight assists, and Willy Hernangomez finished the game with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Jan Vesely scored 14 points.
On the other side, Brandon Taylor had 17 points, Martinas Geben scored 14, and Devin Robinson contributed with 14 points as well.