FCBARCELONA.CAT

02.11.2008 18:02

Teamwork key to fifth ACB win (81-88)

www.fcbarcelona.cat

Regal FC Barcelona snatched a victory from Fuenlabrada by a difference of 7 points. Xavi Pascual’s team reacted well after a bad start, and after the home side had turned the score round in the third quarter.

In their fifth victory in the ACB League, Regal FC Barcelona has beaten Alta Gestión Fuenlabrada by 81-88 after a bad start to the match. David Andersen and Juan Carlos Navarro were the leading scorers, with 24 and 23 points respectively, but teamwork has been the key to the win. At the last minute, Xavi Pascual had to miss out on the game because of flu.

Bad start

Barça left their opponents a lot of space at the outset, but they finally woke up when the score was 8-0 (Oleson, Blanco, Ramos and Valters). Navarro was the first to react, putting Barça back in the game with a triple.

The Blaugranas were soon able to even the game out, and Juan Carlos Navarro turned the score round in the 6th minute (13-14), and Andersen managed to make it 17-21 at the end of the first quarter.

A run of triples

Regal Barça were on top from then on, but Fuenlabrada weren’t to be written off. The highest score difference was attained in the second quarter when a triple from Basile made it 19-33.

Despite this, even though Barça dominated the play, the Madrid side were on form and their game didn’t break down.

New signing Nikoloz Tskitshvili converted six out of the seven triples he tried, half of them before the end of the second quarter. Pascual’s men had a ten-point lead when the referee gave a foul against Basile on Oleson, and the Fuenlebrada player got all three throws, making the score 40-45.

Andersen, lethal

Things went against Regal Barça at the start of the third quarter, with Fuenlebrada getting a partial score of 9-1. The Barça coach substituted Santiago and Sada for Andersen and Lakovic, and Barça began to pull back, but a triple from Mainoldi left the score at 63-59. Then third quarter eventually finished at 69-67.

In the last ten minutes, Barça pulled out all the stops. Andersen got seven points in a row, and then Lakovic got five more (69-79). Despite the fouls and long passes, Barça were looking likely winners. Lakovic closed the score by making it 81-88. Regal FC Barcelona remain in the top half of the league with five wins and one defeat, on the same points as Unicaja and TAU.