FCBARCELONA.CAT

12.03.2009 22:03

Regal top group and head for play offs (74-90)

Carles Cascante

Regal Barça did the business in Tel Aviv, beating Maccabi by a clear 16 points to progress to the quarter final play offs as the winners of Group F. Barca will face TAU in the quarter final series to see who makes the Final Four.

Although they found themselves up against a Maccabi team who were much more motivated than they might have expected, Regal Barca kept their patience and thanks to excellent performances from Basile, Vazquez and above all Navarro, they recorded their first win in 18 years in Tel Aviv.

Frantic start

In a frantic first quarter, Maccabi , pumped up by their crowd and a massive Israeli flag draped over the court pre-match, came out of the blocks the faster and although they were missing Fisher, their second line of attackers certainly stepped up to the mark. Barca were also looking sharp in attack, though in defence the Israeli’s Eliyahu, who had soon notched up 8 points, was causing plenty of headaches. Pascual spotted the problem and brought on Ilyasova and then Fran Vázquez. The quarter closed on 22-19 to the locals with Basile and Navarro Barca’s best players.

Defence takes charge

Regal started the second quarter with a more defensive quintet and soon began to take advantage of a their more intense approach. With Grimau holding the defence tight and Basile prowling the perimeter, Regal began to edge ahead (29-32 min16). With the Euroliga’s leading scorer Marcus Brown taking over from the fading Eliyahu, the relatively short Maccabi team made the most of their rebounds and clung on, but Barca’s defence began to smother the host’s attacking options and at half time were leading 39-45.

Barca tighten grip

Regal’s control over the game tightened after the break with three pointers from Basile and Ilyasova at the start of the half stretching their lead to 10 points (42-52). Maccabi tried hard to get back into the game and Casspi and Gomes in particular played their hearts out, but time and time again they came up against the solid Barca defence.

Finally, it was Navarro who put the Israeli’s to the sword, marshalling his team with expertise, whislt Vazquez also put an end to any hope of a reaction from the hosts. As the game wound down, even the home fans applauded Barca’s performance as their team bowed out of a disappointing European campaign.