Zalgiris Kaunas 86-93 Barça: Statement victory in Lithuania

Zalgiris Kaunas 86-93 Barça: Statement victory in Lithuania

The blaugranes come out on top in a game that hands Pesic his 200th win as coach

A great win for Barça in Lithuania. An 93-86 win against Zalgiris Kaunas was achieved with a 27 point contribution from Higgins in a hard fought contest which also gave coach Pesic his 200th win as Barça boss from just 277 matches.  

Zalgiris came out all guns blazing and took an early lead but Barça came back into the contest to end the first quarter with a three point lead at 23-20. Pierre Oriola and Hanga came into their own before the break and at half time Pesic's team lead 47-40. 

In the third quarter seven unanswered points from Zalgiris got them on level terms but 12 third quarter points from Higgins handed Barça back the advantage at 66-61 going into the final quarter. 

Two more three pointers in the fourth quarter from Higgins seemed to have decided the game but the Lithuanians were not finished with Grigonis, Hayes and Walkup keeping their hopes alive. However, Mirotic and Higgins took control and the latter's 27 points was a personal record in his 136 games in the competition. The 93-86 win leaves Barça with a 6-1 record so far in this season's Euroleague. 

 

MATCH STATS

Zalgiris Kaunas, 86
Barça, 93

Zalgiris Kaunas: Alex Pérez (5), Hayes (8), Grigonis (14), Ulanovas (-), Landale (10) -starting five-, Walkup (14), Lekavicius (6), Jankunas (2), Milaknis (11) and Leday (16)
Barça: Hanga (9), Higgins (27), Smits (5), Mirotic (24), Davies (4) -starting five-, Oriola (9), Abrines (-), Delaney (7), Kuric (-) and Tomic (8).

Força Barça
Força Barça

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