There was no slip up against Lagun Aro as Xavi Pascual’s men, who’s clearly learnt their lesson from the game in the first part of the season, powered to an 81-55 win, thanks in large part to a solid defence, an inspired Ricky Rubio and a third quarter display that opened up a big gap.

Good start from visitors

Lagun Aro shooter Jimmy Baron put the Barça defence under pressure early on with a couple of three pointers and the visitors scored 10 quick points without reply before Barça reacted with 8 points themselves, including two three pointers from Ricky Rubio.

The Catalan was on fire, not just with his scoring (4 out of 5 exterior shot success), but also in the organisation of the team, who found their rhythm in the second quarter, when Joe Ingles and Roger Grimau came off the bench to give them a lift. Ricky’s third three pointer put Barça 10 points up and Lagun Aro had no reply and though Doblas had some success under the basket, it was Vazquez who had the last word of the half with a basket on half time to leave the scores at 44-33.

Third quarter settles the game

Barça upped their game in the third quarter and steam rollered over the Basque team, whose coach Pablo Lasa was forced to call a time out at 55-35 to try and halt the flow of points the hosts were racking up.

That worked for a moment, with the visitors cutting the lead to 11 points, but only for a moment, as Fran Vazquez celebrated his 28th birthday with a splendid performance(25 valuation, 14 points and 12 rebounds) to open up a 26 point lead that had the fans on their feet applauding the new regular season champs!