Lietuvos Rytas won the 33rd edition of the Ciutat de L’Hospitalet tournament by dethroning FC Barcelona Regal 72-68 in the final behind 21 points from Augustinas Jankaitis and 16 from Tomas Galeckas.
Rytas won the second ticket to the 10th annual Nike International Junior Tournament that will take place during the 2012 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four weekend in Istanbul, Turkey. Rytas joins Citta di Roma Tournament winner KK Zagreb CO as the first two NIJT qualifiers. This is the second time in the history of the tournament Rytas lifts the trophy after previously winning in 2009. Rytas led 7-22 after 10 minutes and boosted its margin to 29-47 at halftime, but saw Barca make an impressive comeback all the way down to within 3 in the final seconds. Jankaitis was named MVP and highlighted the all-tournament team where he was joined by FCB Regal’s Josep Perez, FIATC Joventut Badalona’s Albert Homs, Edvinas Seskus of L. Rytas, Barcelona big guy Alexandr Zhigulin and Doko Salic of KK Spars. Three additional awards were presented during the ceremony before the title game as Nedim Buza of Spars won the award for the Most Talented Player, Denis Krestinin of Rytas won the Best Defensive Player award and the Best Coach award went to Joventut’s Paco Redondo. Earlier Joventut Badalona grabbed third place with an 84-75 triumph against Cajasol Andalucia, Cedevita took fifth place with a 65-52 win over Real Madrid and KK Spars won seventh with a 74-65 victory over BC L’Hospitalet.
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