The center, with a rating of 48, leads the Barça quarry's seventh title
MÁLAGA, February 18. (from the special envoy of EUROPA PRESS, Rodrigo Trascasa) –
This Sunday, Barça won its seventh Endesa Mini Cup by beating Real Madrid (78-89) in the final of the 20th edition held at the Martín Carpena in Málaga, led by the giant Mohamed Dabone, who finished as MVP in a performance of 48 rating.
The culé team recovered the title they had won for the last time precisely at Carpena four years ago, also against Real Madrid. The whites, with only one defeat in the last 10 finals, were once again held back by a Barça with many resources and a Dabone that ended up exploding in the second half.
The Spanish basketball youth tournament produced a Clásico as the perfect appetizer for the Copa del Rey final that Madrid and Barça will also experience in the afternoon. The spotlight was on Dabone, a 2.08 tall child, and he did not disappoint: 22 points, 26 rebounds, 6 blocks and 48 rating credits.
In addition, the Barça team had a great Joan Martín, author of 11 points in the last quarter. The Madrid team fought until the end, although they were trailing from the second quarter. The whites stopped Dabone more or less well in the first half, but Jan Cerdán (19 points and 9 assists) and Pau Cruz did a lot of damage.
Madrid managed to make up for the break (36-45) and after the restart they launched an attack that died in Dabone. Barça committed up to nine turnovers in that quarter, but the center began to be decisive in a beautiful duel with Moussa Manel. The Madrid tower accepted the challenge and together with Pablo Mera, who finished as the top scorer with 23 points, and Robinson, extended the excitement until the last quarter.
There, Dabone continued to be lethal, with a succession of blocks, and Barça moved the ball well, finding the success of Martín (67-81). In the last minute came Dabone's fifth foul and elimination, but the Barça prodigy had already done his homework, with his name in the tournament's MVP alongside those of Ricky Rubio (2004), Luka Doncic (2013) and Usman Garuba (2016).