Boca Juniors lift first BCL Americas title with dominant display over SESI Franca

Boca Juniors captured their first Basketball Champions League Americas championship on Saturday night, defeating Brazil's SESI Franca 86-72 in the Grand Final at Estadio Obras Sanitarias in front of an electric home crowd. The Xeneizes, who lost last year's final to Flamengo, made emphatic amends this time around. Head coach Nicolas Casalanguida, who took over the bench in February, completed a remarkable 6-0 record in the competition as Boca dominated for long stretches behind balanced scoring and suffocating defense.
The key sequence came at the end of the first half. Boca closed the second quarter on a 6-1 run to take a 47-38 lead into the break, and the margin hovered around double digits for most of the second half. Defensively, the Argentine side held Franca to 31 percent from the field (22-of-71) and limited the Brazilians to just three second-half three-pointers after they had made seven in the first half. Boca also dominated in transition points (21-7) and points in the paint (40-20).
Veteran point guard Santiago Scala (186-G-1991) spearheaded the attack with 18 points on four three-pointers, adding six rebounds and five assists. Center Francisco Caffaro (216-C-2000, college: Santa Clara) was a picture of efficiency with 15 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, six rebounds, and two blocks, earning him the Final Four MVP award. Michael Smith (193-G-1995, college: CBU) (12), Agustin Barreiro (205-SF-1999) (11), and Lucas Faggiano (188-PG-1989, college: LIU Brooklyn) (10) also reached double figures in a balanced effort — all ten Boca players who took the floor scored at least two points.
Franca, who won the BCL Americas in 2022-23, kept themselves in the game through offensive rebounding, holding a 27-9 edge in second-chance points. Lucas Dias (207-C-1995) led the Brazilian side with 17 points and seven rebounds, becoming the all-time leading scorer in BCL Americas history with 847 career points in the process. David Jackson (192-G-1982, college: Penn State) added 16 and Georginho de Paula (197-PG-1996) had 15 points and five assists, reaching the milestone of 200 career assists in the competition — only the third player to do so.
Boca become the second Argentine club to win the BCL Americas after Quimsa, who lifted the trophy in 2019-20 and 2023-24. The title earns Boca a berth in this year's FIBA Intercontinental Cup.
In the third-place game earlier Saturday, Uruguay's Nacional routed Flamengo 94-65. Boca had beaten Flamengo 81-58 in the semifinals, while Franca advanced past Nacional 83-71.