Barcelona lands in Copa Semifinals

Barcelona cruised through its Copa del Rey quarter final against Iberostar Tenerife thanks to a 102-60 thrashing. The club will now face off against Valencia Basket in Saturday´s Semifinal.

The Catalan giant has been in shaky league form but has looked fantastic in tournament Basketball, impressing in the Euroleague Top 16 and now in the cup. However, Barca will be wary of a Valencia team that emerged victorious when the two teams met just seven days ago in the Spanish league. Although, in this kind of formidable form Barcelona will be tough to beat and will have one eye on Sunday´s final.

First quarter
Tenerife opened the scoring with two points from Saul Blanco, but it proved to be the last points the team collected during the first four minutes of the contest. Barcelona took advantage of that drought by hitting 8 points on the spin to take early control of the game. Iberostar improved and reeled in Barca to 10-9 midway through the first, but the Catalonia club responded with ten unanswered points to lead by eleven (20-9) with two minutes remaining in the opening period. Tenerife rallied with a 2-7 run to get closer after 10 minutes, with the score at 22-16.

Second quarter
Barcelona started to press home the distinct gulf in class during the second quarter and the Canary Island club could barely keep pace. Another streak, this time seven points, put Barcelona 34-21 in front and the team kept going until the score was 41-26 after 15 minutes of play. There was no stopping the Barca train as the team swept Tenerife aside with another 9-0 run. By time the onslaught was over the half had finished and the score was 54-34.

Third quarter
With a twenty point lead after half of the game, Barca had all but won the contest. A little complacency crept in and Tenerife improved to slash the deficit to 16 points midway through the third (61-45). It was not to last though as Barcelona once again found the extra gear to close up shop for three minutes and score 10 points. With 30 minutes on the clock and the buzzer sounding, Barca led by 27 points at 75-48.

Fourth quarter
Throughout the fourth Barcelona piled on the points and continued to build on the lead. The game had long been won, but that did not stop the team from becoming the only club in the Quarterfinal stage to secure over 100 points. Marcelinho Huertas was the pick of the Barcelona players with 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists.