Saturday night saw The Sports Rabbi take a trip to the other side of town, all the way across the city from the heart of Barcelona but to Badalona for Joventut’s ACB clash with Zaragoza. Both teams entered the contest at 8-9 as their deadlock would be broken no matter what after the 40 minutes of action.
Some familiar names graced the floor on this evening including Andrew Andrews who played in Israel with Hapoel Afula when they were in the second division as well as Maccabi Haifa at the end of the 2020 Covid League. While Andrews would finish with 9 points in a solid workmanlike performance it wound end up being the veteran guard Pau Ribas with 19 points who would come up huge in the last quarter to chalk up the 95-84 win for Badalona.

Andrew Andrews – Photo Credit: Badalona
The Palau Municipal d’Esports de Badalona may currently be home to Joventut Badalona but way back in 1992 it was the site of the Dream Team’s run to gold with the arguably the greatest basketball talent ever assembled. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, David Robinson and the list goes on and on.
Just walking into the building brings back tons of memories from that tournament and how the USA Team was revered as they dominated the entire competition. Athletes from every discipline were in shock and awe when they saw the American hoopster at the opening ceremonies and throughout the Barcelona Games.

Andres Feliz – Photo Credit: Badalona
Andres Feliz tried to impersonate some of the best and was piping hot for Badalona as the game got underway with points a plenty from the inside and outside for 10 points while Santiago Yusta and Mitchell Watt came back with baskets for Zaragoza but the hosts ended the period strong with triples from newcomer Shannon Evans and Tannick Yannick Kragg to grab a 24-17 lead after ten minutes of play.
Feliz grew up in the Dominican Republic and attended high school as well as college in the United States as he began in Juco but moved to Illinois for his final two seasons of eligibility. The guard then headed to Spain where he played for one season in the second division with El Prat and then joined Badalona where he has been for the prior three campaigns. Now at 26 years of age, Feliz has developed into a solid contributor for the club as his minutes have increased over the three years. Will one of the bigger teams snatch him up after the season that remains to be seen.

Andrew Andrews – Photo Credit: Badalona
Andrew Andrews knocked down a pair of triples to get the second quarter underway, Tyler Cook started to take the game on as he beat his defender one-on-one and then went to the hops for another bucket but came down hard and headed to the lockerroom, but no matter. Vladimír Brodziansky continued the scoring for Charles Duran’s team.
Shannon Evans who was making his Badalona debut went coast to coast for a nice layup, Trae Bell-Haynes came back with points for the visitors as the Canadian started filling the basket as he ended he half with 15 points, but it would be Badalona who were comfortably in front 50-38 at halftime.

Trae Bell-Haynes – Photo Credit: Badalona
Bell-Haynes who put in 25 points in this losing effort, hails from Toronto and no doubt is a product of the Raptors influence on the city that saw an influx of Canadians playing the game. The point guard who went to Vermont climbed the ladder from the lower levels of the hoops stratosphere to the ACB in a nice overseas seduces story.
Bell-Haynes was a one man wrecking crew for Zaragoza to begin the third quarter with a corner 3-ball and then a layup off a steal cut the lead to single digits, Mitchell Watt scored and dunked with authority as the game began to get quite chippy but Vladimir Brodziansky who finished the game with 20 points gave Badalona some breathing room, while Evans sent from downtown to send the fans into ecstasy and bump the lead back up to 67-55 after thirty minutes of action.

Shannon Evans – Photo Credit: Badalona
Shannon Evans is a good ball player. In fact, it’s surprising that he didn’t sign with a Euroleague team after just signed with Badalona after a short stint in China. Last season ended in Valencia after beginning in Real Betis where he has been playing since the start of the 2021 season. The Arizona State product began his pro ball in Hungary but worked his way up with stops in France and then Turkey before arriving in the ACB League. There’s no question that this was a solid signing for Badalona as they are are competing in not only Spain but the EuroCup as well where they sit in 4th place.
One player who has been very quiet all game long was Pau Ribas, the veteran sharp shooter who has plied his trade with Barcelona between 2015-2020 as well as Valencia and Baskonia. However, his home team is Badalona and he returned to the club he grew up in 2020 with a boat load of awards from Gold Medals with Spain in the 2019 World Cup and 2013 Eurobasket. Add to that a couple of EuroCup titles and numerous other trophies and the 36-year old is as decorated as anyone in the country.

Pau Ribs – Photo Credit: Badalona
Did I say he was quiet? Well he broke out with 14 fourth quarter points Ribas hit one shot after the next for a perfect shooting frame going 2/2 from 2, 3/3 from 3 and 1/1 from the line and while Tomasz Gielo and Watt tried to will a comeback but Feliz who had not been heard from since the opening period went to the hoop for a layup and dished to a cutting Brodziansky to seal the win.
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