Barça 89-72 Valencia Basket: Win to get back on track

Great win for Barça in the Palau Blaugrana. The 89-72 victory against Valencia breaks a run of three consecutive defeats in the competition as the second half of the campaign got underway. Another positive for the blaugranes was a debut for new signing Leo Westermann. 

Good start from Barça 

In the first quarter Barça got ahead and never looked back. Higgins notched up nine points in the opening 10 minutes to lead the blaugranes to a 18-12 lead at the end of the quarter. 

In the second Abrines scored two three pointers to extent the lead and with Hanga also in good form the lead at half time stood at 38-33 thanks to a fightback from Valencia. 

Closing out the game 

In the second half a stellar third quarter restored Barça's advantage as the sides went into the final quarter at 67-54. Jasikevicius' team closed out the win with a solid final quarter performance to make the final score 89-72, a 17 point victory that gets them off to a winning start for the second half of the Euroleague group phase. 

MATCH STATS

Barça, 89
Valencia Basket, 72

Barça: Calathes (8), Higgins (13), Hanga (13), Smits (10), Pustovyi (-) - starting five-. Westermann (5), Bolmaro (-), Oriola (9), Abrines (16), Sergi Martínez (10), Kuric (5).
Valencia Basket: Van Rossom (4), Sastre (13), Kalinic (8), Williams (4), Tobey (14) -starting five-. Prepelic (7), Pradilla (-), Labeyrie (17), Vives (1), San Emeterio (-), Hermannsson (4).