Barça Lassa 79-68 Panathinaikos: A win based on defence

A key victory in the Euroleague against one of Barça Lassa's key rivals in the race for a place in the top 16. The blaugranes beat Panathinaikos 79-68 in a tight encounter in which Thomas Heurtel (23 points) and Kevin Séraphin (14 points) were the stand out performers. 

In the opening exchanges defense dominated and in a low scoring period Barça took the advantage thanks to Heurtel's 14 first half points. The Greeks cut the deficit just before the break thanks to Papapetrou and Mitoglou to make it 37-36 when the third quarter got under way. An 11 point unanswered spell from the home side, however, swung the encounter back in Barça's favour and at the end of the third quarter they led 56-52. 

Barça kept their nerve in the final quarter with Hanga and Heurtel notching up three pointers at the death to make the final score 79-68, a win that leaves Pesic's team in joint fifth in their group level with Olympiacos. 

MATCH STATS:

Barça Lassa, 79
Panathinaikos, 68

Barça Lassa: Ribas (3), Heurtel (23), Claver (8), Singleton (3) and Tomic (7) –starting five-, Seraphin (14), Pangos (2), Hanga (7), Oriola (4) and Kuric (8).

Panathinaikos: Thomas (6), Papapetrou (17), Pappas (5), Gist (8) and Calathes (8) –starting five-, Papagiannis (2), Lasme (4), Lekavicius (8), Lojeski (2) and Mitoglou (8).