The final was played in the Swiss city of Geneva. Barcelona wasted a great opportunity to win the European Basketball Cup for the first time in its history, in a game that clearly went from more to less. Despite winning by ten points at the break (32-42) and reaching an advantage of up to thirteen (22-35), he was unable to win against the also debutant in the Banco di Roma finals. For their part, the Italians were able to better control their nerves and took advantage of the unexpected slump for the Barcelona in the second half to clinch an unexpected victory. A large part of Barca's ills were caused by the disastrous performance of Sibilio, one of the best shooters in Europe, who gave the sand in this match.

The match had started in a surprising way, since Barcelona, led by a plethoric Epi (scorer of 11 of the first 17 points for his team), took off on the scoreboard (8-17, min. 7). Davis was intractable in the light bulb, and only Sibilio was a hindrance to his team. For its part, the Banco di Roma failed too much (2 baskets in their first 13 attempts), and only Larry Wright (185-G-1954, college: GSU) -the 'ebony dragonfly'- kept his team afloat based on risky shots. Fortunately for the Roman squad, Barcelona committed too many absurd turnovers and looked excessively for the outside shot of Epi and Sibilio -missing the inside game of their two Americans Davis and Starks, less marked than their teammates-, and the men from Valerio Bianchini were able to close the gap (14-17, min. 9). After a balanced phase, Barcelona managed to distance themselves on the scoreboard again thanks to a series of quick counterattacks (22-35, min. 16). In the last minutes of the first half, the Romans took refuge in a 1-3-1 defense that served to smooth out differences on the scoreboard, although Barcelona was still the clear dominator (32-42). The main problem for FC Barcelona was then Davis's fourth personal foul.
The second part was diametrically opposite. Wright began to take responsibility for directing and scoring for his team, so that in attack almost all the balls were played one on one. Despite the fact that Gilardi was eliminated after a personal double fault with Epi (the fourth of the Barcelona forward, author until that moment of some unscathed 10 of 12 in shots of two), the Banco di Roma was gradually reducing differences in the scoreboard until to get ahead for the first time (57-56, min. 31). The game had changed course and now it was Barcelona that was seen in tow. The Italian team achieved its maximum advantage coinciding with Solozabal's fifth personal foul (69-63, min. 35). With 1'10'' to go, with the score at 75-73, it seemed that the Catalans still had a chance. The Italians, through Sbarra, They failed in their attack, but the rebound went to Kea, who scored to almost hit Barca. With the definitive 79-73, the European dream of the Catalans escaped.

Courtesy of BasketFinals

Banco di Roma Virtus - FC Barcelona 79-73
Banco di Roma Virtus (Valerio Bianchini): Larry Wright 27, Enrico Gilardi 5, Marco Solfrini 8, Clarence Kea 9, Fulvio Polesello 8; Stefano Sbarra 8, Paolo Salvaggi, Renzo Tombolato 12, Gianni Bertolotti 2, Giuseppe Grimaldi
FC Barcelona (Antoni Serra): Nacho Solozabal 6, Juan Antonio San Epifanio 31, Chicho Sibilio 4, Mike Davis 5, Marcellus Starks 10; Arturo Seara 2, Pedro Ansa 11, Juan Domingo de la Cruz 4, Luis Miguel Santillana dnp, Manolo Flores