FC Barcelona beat Bilbao Basket 80-73 for fourth straight win

FC Barcelona got their fourth consecutive league victory, defeating Bilbao Basket 80–73 at the Palau Blaugrana on Saturday and continuing their steady play in the final stretch of the regular season. Xavi Pascual's squad almost entirely dominated the game, the only exception being the first few minutes of the third quarter, playing very well throughout the first half, managing to contain the good performance of Bilbao's Álex Mumbrú, who scored 17 points and Raúl López who chipped in with 14. With the win, FC Barcelona still has a chance to finish the regular season in second place, but still need help from Málaga.

Barça made seven of nine attempts from three-point territory in the first half, led by Álex Abrines, who made three of them. A high-scoring first quarter was followed by a more defensive-minded approach by both sides in the second, as the Catalans led by 43–35 at the intermission.

Bilbao went on a 7–0 run to start the third quarter, making it a 43–42 game. That's when Justin Doellman, Thomas Satoransky and Ante Tomic gave Barça a jump start that saw the Catalans go up by 52–44 with 13 minutes left to play. The teams traded baskets the rest of the way, with Bilbao only making a smidgen of headway before Abrines and Colom nailed baskets that put up the final 80–73 score, thus putting pressure on Málaga in the battle for second place.

Match stats

FC Barcelona, 80

Bilbao Basket, 73

FC Barcelona: Huertas (9), Thomas (-), Abrines (11), Nachbar (5) and Tomic (14) -starting five-, Satoransky (13), Oleson (10), Pleiss (2), Navarro (9), Lampe (-) and Doellman (7).

Bilbao Basket: Colom (10), Hervelle (2), Mumbrú (17), Todorovic (11) and D.Todorovic (-) -starting five-; Borg (-), Bertans (-), Williams (10), Wragge (-), López (14) and Andjusic (9).

Scoring by quarter: 30-17, 13-18, 20-15 and 17-23.

Referees: Martín Bertrán, Sánchez Monserrat and Planells.

Attendance: 4,314