15.02.2009 15:56
Hard worked win (95-91)
Carles Cascante
Regal Barça faced a tough match against Fuenlabrada, a side that scored no fewer than 16 three pointers are were in contention right until the end.
Despite Barça taking an early 11-0 lead, mainly thanks to Ersan Ilyasova, Fuenlabrada fought their
way back into the game thanks to three pointers, falling just two short of the ACB record. Luis
Guil’s side are a force to be reckoned with from the perimeter, with Oleson and Blanco simply
outstanding. Ilyasova, Andersen, Vázquez, Sada and Navarro all broke 10 in the first haklf for
Barcelona, who can now turn their thoughts to the Copa del Rey as they move to within two wins of
TAU, who lost on Saturday in Madrid.
Strong start
The first two periods provided testimony of just what form Ersan Ilyasova is enjoying,
He scored two consecutive threes, while the respective franchise players, Navarro and Oleson, were
on less course for good days. The North American didn’t open his account until the second
period, and Navarro failed to score in the entire first half.
It was an even first half, despite Barcelona’s excellent start, which Pascual’s
constant rotations were powerless to contain. By the end of the first period things stood at 23-16,
and it was 39-34 at the break following the first of Oleson’s three pointers. The American
finished the first 20 minutes with 7 points.
Triple show
The threes started flowing in the third period. Of the 21 scores in the period, no
fewer than 12 were from beyond the 6.25 line. Fuenlabrada, and especially Oleson, eventually
managed to take the lead for the first time (41-42), but it was then than Juan Carlos Navarro
finally started coming alive, registering 12 points. Fran Vázquez and David Andersen were also good
on the paint, and it was threes from the Australian that helped make things 69-58 to Regal Barça
going into the last ten.
Thrilling end
Despite an 11 point lead, Barça still didn’t have Fuenlabrada subdued. Oleson
was still on fire, and laid up a final five minutes that had the crowd on the edge of their seats.
Blanco converted a three to put the visitors within five with two minutes on the clock.
Fouls either way kept up the tension, and it was clever use of free throws from both teams
that meant it went down to the wire. Finally it was some fine defending from Roger Grimau and a
long throw from Valters, along with a couple of free throws from Ilyasova that tipped the balance
in favour of FCB (95-91).
MATCH STATS
REGAL FC BARCELONA, 95
ALTA GESTIÓN FUENLABRADA, 91
Regal FC Barcelona (23+16+30+26): Sada (11), Navarro (18), Ilyasova (17), Santiago
(4), Barton (3) –starting five-, Basile (10), Barrett (0), Trías (2), Andersen (15), Vázquez
(13) and Grimau (2).
Alta Gestión Fuenlabrada (16+18+24+33): Oleson (29), Blanco (17), Bueno (8),
Valters (19), Tskitishvili (4) - starting five -, Mainoldi (9), Ferran López (0), Radivojevic (0),
Sanders (5) and Vidaurreta (0).
Referees: Daniel Hierrezuelo, Santiago Fernández and Zafra.