Congratulations go out today to junior team Cajasol of Seville, which overcame Unicaja, 72-70, in the finals of the 31st Torneig de Basquet Junior Ciutat de L’Hospitalet. Though this marks the 22nd occasion a Spanish club has taken the tournament, the title is Cajasol’s first.
(Oh, and be sure to congratulate Euroleague fantasy league boss/rabid Cajasol fan Javier Gancedo for his team’s outstanding play as well…)
Cajasol will be going on to participate in the Euroleague Nike International Junior Tournament, held in conjunction with the Euroleague Final Four games in Paris. Zalgiris Kaunas has already qualified. The remaining two teams will be the winners of the eight-team Belgrade Junior Classification Tournament scheduled for February 12-14 and the eight-team Barking Abbey Academy Euroleague Basketball Junior Classification Tournament to be played February 18-20.
Official Euroleague writeup follows.
(Euroleague.net) – The 31st annual Torneig de Basquet Junior Ciutat de L’Hospitalet has a first-time champion, none other than Cajasol of Seville, which completed its undefeated run through the tournement by outlasting Unicaja, its archrival in Southern Spain, 72-70, on Wednesday.
Just as L’Hospitalent crowned a new winner, so the Nike International Junior Tournament will have a newcomer in Cajasol, which qualified to play for the title of European junior champion when the continent’s best compete during the Euroleague 2010 Final Four in Paris next May. After going ahead on Pablo Villarejo’s three-pointer, Cajasol went 7-for-8 at the foul line in the final two minutes to hang on for the victory. Villarejo and Ricardo Pampano led the winners with 17 points each, while Gabriel Darin added 12. For Unicaja, Miki Servera was again the driving force, scoring 20 points to go with eight rebounds and four assists. Cajasol joins already-qualified Zalgiris Kaunas, winner of the recent Citta di Roma tournament, as the first two teams going to the NIJT in Paris. Two more automatic qualifiers will come at tournaments next month in Belgrade and London.
