Catalan League champions! Aleksander Sekulic's Barça team have overcome iLERNA Lleida 96-87 in a very tough and contested final to lift the first trophy of the season. The blaugranes had to work hard to come through against a Lleida side who were in the game throughout and even spent a period with a significant lead, before Barça proved decisive in the final quarter.

Lleida with strong showing

Barça began better and went ahead first, but iLERNA Lleida were quick to react. Strong in defence and making the most of some blaugrana mistakes, they turned the scoreline around to end the first quarter ahead (18-23).

Sekulic's side reacted in the second and drew level after scoring eight without reply. However, Lleida managed to go back into the lead after making the most of secondary actions and offensive rebounds. Half-time score: 40-44.

After half-time iLERNA Lleida came on strong again, opening up the biggest lead in the game (+9, 53-62). Barça weren't cowed though, and with Punter providing the attacking threat and Parra making triples, the blaugranes cut into their advantage.

Blaugranes come back to win first trophy of the season

The third quarter ended with Lleida still ahead (66-69), but the game was clearly heading in a different direction. The downside was Brizuela having to come off the court due to feeling a lot of discomfort in his right foot after a fall.

Barça stepped it up in the final quarter. A triple by Parra sent the blaugranes ahead (76-73) and that proved the platform for the team to manage the game well.

Robinson scored constantly in the final spell, Parra ended with 21 points, and both Punter and Nebo helped with the turnaround by the blaugranes. Barça extended their lead to nine points by the buzzer (96-87) and the first title win of the season was confirmed.

GAME STATS

BARÇA 96
ILERNA LLEIDA 87

Barça: Robinson (19), Brizuela (5), Umude (6), Parra (21) and Nebo (13) - starting five - Punter (14), Gibson (9), Martin (5), Nkamhoua (2), Balcerowski (2), Minaya (0), Núñez (-)

iLERNA Lleida: Hughes (9), Rodríguez (4), McGhee (18), Sanz (4) and Perrin (16) - starting five - Batemon (12), Ejim (14), Paulí (0), Shurna (5), Majauskas (5).

Quarters: 18-23, 22-21 // 26-25, 28-16

Referees: Oscar Perea, Jordi Aliaga and Alberto Baena.

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