Dubai: Barcelona stunned pre-tournament favourites Partizan Belgrade, while Sharjah Club expectedly got the better of Al Nasr for the second time in a week to enter the final of the inaugural Dubai International Junior Basketball being held at the American University in Dubai (AUD) on Monday morning.

Trailing their Serbian opponents for most of the match, Barcelona rode on a 20-blitz from man of the match Borja Fernandez for an 85-82 win, while Sharjah played a compact match to cruise 69-56 against Al Nasr for the second time during this week.

The two teams had met on the opening day of the competition with Sharjah clawing back from a seven-point deficit to secure a 45-43 last-gasp win.

The final of this eight-day competition is scheduled to be held later on Monday so as to facilitate the departure of the outstation teams.

The competition took a one-day break due to the sudden demise of Shaikh Rashid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Aleksandar Davitkov’s top score of 15 points along with contributions of six points apiece from Mateja Jovanovic and Bogdan Rutesic gave the Serbians a narrow three-point cushion at 43-30 after the first two quarters. Issac Mayo scored three of his four charity shots to topscore for Barcelona at the half-way mark.

In the third period, man of the match Fernandez – who had just six points against his name – came alive even as Barcelona trailed Partizan by four at 56-60.

However, the final quarter proved to be the deciding factor as Fernandez’s 20 points and steady defensive support from Josep Alessandro and Mayo helped tilt the scales in favour of the Catalans.

Davitkov outscored all with 23 points, while Jovanovic chipped in with 20, but had to see their team fall short at the very last hurdle.

In the second semi-finals, Sharjah was always in control taking a 20-5 lead in the first quarter and then held on to a 35-27 cushion going into the half-time break. In the third quarter, Sharjah led by elevent points for 51-40 to eventually ward off a late challenge from Al Nasr to win by 13 points 690 56 and seal a place in the final against Barcelona.
 

Semi-finals results:

Barcelona x Partizan Belgrade 85-82

Sharjah x Al Nasr 69-56