Barça Regal won their opening Euroleague fixture at Olimpija Ljubljana, a game they controlled from start to finish. Huertas (17 points) and Mickeal (15 points) led the scoring.
MATCH STATS
OLIMPIJA LJUBLJANA, 64
FC BARCELONA REGAL, 86
Olimpia Liubliana (19+11+21+13): Capin (2), Salin (-), Green (17), Varda (16),
Markota (5) – starting five - Rothbart (4), Blazic (4), Thompson (9), Woodside (5), Muric
(2), Bertans (-), Morina (-)
FC Barcelona Regal (24+17+20+15): Huertas (17), Navarro (9), Perovic (6), Lorbek
(7), Eidson (6) - starting five - Sada (-), Vázquez (10), Wallace (4), Ingles (6), Ndong (6),
Rabaseda (-), Mickeal (15)
Referees: Rocha (FRA), Sahin (ITA), Nuran (TUR)
Barça Regal has passed the first test on the road to Istanbul, venue of the Final Four this year.
There’s a long way to go, but with wins on the road like this one at Ljubljana, then the
omens are good.
Strong defence
Up
against names like Ratko Varda and Danny Green, Barça Regal were going to need to produce their
very best basketball to get off to a winning start on their European campaign. Pascual opted for
defensive strength, and Marcelinho Huertas and Boniface Ndong both showed they knew what was
required, supported by Lorbek, returning to his home country. Saso Filipovski was already calling
for a timeout at 2-9.
Not that the Slovenians got any more dangerous after that. Navarro banged home two straight
threes and Huertas made it 15-24 at the end of the first period. Barça Regal were in control, but
Olimpija didn’t slack, but even as they gained confidence, the sheer perfection of the Barça
machine was too much for them. It was not long before the Catalans were leading by eleven (30-41).
Marcelinho shines and Pete Mickeal back
The
second half brought more of the same. Marcelinho and Lorbek started with a 0-4, although Olimpija
were able to match that fairly rapidly. Pscual quickly called a timeout and two more triples from
Eidson and Navarro and a fine recital from the Huertas-Vázquez partnership saw them extend their
lead.
But Olimpija still felt they had a chance and did all they could in the final period. That
was when Pete Mickeal really burst into action, scoring 10 of his 15 points in the final ten, a
mark that was only beaten by a brilliant Huertas (17 points, five rebounds and eight assists for an
evaluation of 27).