FC Barcelona Lassa 78-74 Brose Bamberg: Back on track in the Euroleague

Barça Lassa beat Brose Bamberg 78-74 in Friday night to go 2-2 in the Euroleague following a fine all round performance by the team.

Both sides went into the game with negative records and this encounter with the Bundesliga champions was as tight as the pundits had expected. Víctor Claver and Tyrese Rice led the way for the Catalans in a first period whose main highlight was Petteri Koponen coming on for his first taste of competitive play in a Barça Lassa and also his first since recovering from his accident in September.

The Finn got his first points for the club from free throws in the second period. That was a period which continued with neither side managing get any kind of meaningful lead, with not even the 17 points from Causeur making any difference.

The Germans looked to have broken away with a 6-0 streak, but Barça hit straight back with a 9-0 of their own and the half ended with just two in it at 40-38.

Tomic hurt

The third period saw a surge in the pace, with Causeur and Theis excelling at one end and Perperoglou and Ante Tomic at the other, but still very little real difference between the two teams. Barça continued to lead by two, 59-57, at the end of the third, but the quarter also brought a casualty in Tomic, who played no further part in the match.

Both sides threw caution to the wind in search of something to tip the balance in the final period, with Rice delivering consecutive threes to help build his game total up to 18 points.

Vezenkov and Dorsey then did their bit to get things to +8, but just when it looked like Barça Lassa had finally done enough, Brose fought back to within two (76-74) with just six seconds on the clock.

Those were six tense seconds, but there was to be no further score and Barça Lassa could celebrate a much-needed win that was just the tonic after the setback of back-to-back defeats in Europe.