Joventut 82-79 FC Barcelona: Setback in Badalona

Barça made the very short trip north to Badalona and failed to come back with the win despite dominating much of the game, with an exceptional Laprovittola bagging 19 points. A late surge from the green-and-blacks means a fruitless effort from the blaugrana.

La Penya looked uncomfortable early on, and Barça flew into a quick +10 lead. The Higgins-Vesely partnership was on song, but the home side refused to let Barça go any further ahead and instead starting drawing closer and closer. But 12 points from Vesely alone in this period kept them at bay, and it was 38-47 at the interval.

Threes from Higgins and Da Silva got Barça off the right start in the third period, but an 8-0 streak for Joventut was an utter game-changer. Barça were still ahead, but longer quite so confident that they would still be at the end.

Joventut were ahead for the first time with ten minutes to go, and although a brilliant Laprovittola was able to bring Barça back level, the home side got the better of the end-game.

It's back to European play and the Palau Blaugrana on Tuesday for a game against Partizan of Serbia.

MATCH STATS

Joventut:  Tomic (16), Ribas (16), Ventura (-), Feliz (10), Parra (14), Busquets (-), Rodriguez (-), Guy (10), Ellenson (6), Vives (5), Brigander (5).

Barça: Satoransaky (8), Laprovittola (19), Paulí (6), Da Silva (14), Sanli (4), Vesely (14), Kalinic (2), Abrines (-), Higgins (9), Jokubaitis (5).

Periods: 20-26, 18-21 // 24-19, 20-13.