An emphatic Barça win in Istanbul! Aleksander Sekulić's side defeated Besiktas 95-82 at the Turkcell Basketball Development Center as Kevin Punter (16) and Umoja Gibson (15) led the scoring in the first EuroLeague victory on the road.

The game began in tense fashion, with consecutive technical fouls called on Robinson (Barça) and Dotson (Besiktas). After an evenly matched opening few minutes, Barça went on a 13-0 run to move 12 points clear (8-20, min 8), thanks to contributions throughout the team and some excellent three-point shooting in the first quarter (67%). The Turkish side cut the deficit slightly before the end of the period, which finished 17-25.

Three point marvels

The Istanbul side pulled to within three points early in the second quarter (22-25, min 12), forcing Sekulić to call a timeout. It had the desired effect, with Barça soon stretching their lead again. A three-pointer followed by a three-point play from an inspired Punter made it 27-38 (min 15). The gap remained fairly steady from there, with Barça heading into the break 40-52 ahead after an excellent first half in Turkey, shooting 55% from three-point range.

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Way ahead

Dusan Alimpijevic's side managed to close the gap somewhat in the final quarter (73-83, min 35), but Kevin Punter quickly restored order with four unanswered points (73-87, min 37). The Turkish side kept battling but were unable to overturn the deficit against a solid Barça team, who wrapped up an emphatic victory in Istanbul in their second European game of the week.

Barça have therefore won two of their opening three games of the EuroLeague regular season. Their next challenge comes this Sunday (7pm CEST) in the Liga ACB, away to UCAM Murcia at the Palacio de los Deportes. In Europe, they are next in action against Zalgiris Kaunas at the Palau Blaugrana on Friday 9 October (8.30pm CEST).

MATCH STATS

Besiktas, 82
Barça, 95

Besiktas: Dotson (11), Morgan (8), Brown (6), Nowell (10), Zizic (10), Dejulius (2), Ugurlu (0), Birsen (6), Wilbekin (17), Omoruyi (4), Korkmaz (2), Gabriel (6).

Barça: Punter (16), Robinson (9), Minaya (5), Parra (7), Balcerowski (11), Gibson (15), Martin (7), Umude (6), Brizuela (8), Nkamhoua (11), Núñez (0).

Periods: 17-25, 23-27, 22-25, 20-18.

Referees: Borys Ryzhyk, Michele Rossi, Anne Panther.

Força Barça