Regal Barça chalked up their 23rd ACB win and they can now turn their attention back to Europe after doing the job at nearby Manresa with a win based on a strong first half performance, which gave them what proved to be an uncatchable 21 point lead at the break, after which the hosts put in a much better game.

Juan Carlos Navarro didn’t figure at all in the game and it fell to Roger Grimau (13 points), Fran Vázquez (12) and Jaka Lakovic (11) to get the points. Manresa’s Uros Slokar was the game’s top scorer with 14 points.

Good start

Barça were determined to get ahead early on and with a strong defence limiting the hosts to a few isolated scores, with three pointers for Gladyr and Roman Montañez, they were 20-16 up after ten minutes.

In the second quarter, Joe Ingles and Terence Morris put Manresa under the cosh and nine points without reply was the highlight of a quarter that Barça took 27-10 to reach the break 21 points ahead.

Managing the lead

That difference was definitive, although the game was far from over and with a 13-0 passage of play, Manresa showed that they could still prove a danger - a show which Fran Vazquez replied to with a smash and which Barça were able to resist and keep their hosts at a ten point distance.

Manresa turned up the heat again in the fourth quarter with Uros Slokar
their main interior reference point. Finally though, the attempts of Manresa to repeat the close finishes of recent years came to nothing, as Barça controlled the final few minutes to keep their top spot in the ACB.