FC Barcelona 67-76 Valencia Basket: Cursed third period ends cup dream

FC Barcelona 67-76 Valencia Basket: Cursed third period ends cup dream

After leading by nine at the break, Barça go into the final period ten-down and fail to fight their way back - and that's the Copa del Rey over at the semi-final stage

FC Barcelona battled hard for a place in the Copa del Rey final, but it will be Valencia Basket that face Real Madrid in Sunday’s showpiece eventafter winning today’s semi-final 67-76. Veteran performances from Rafa Martínez and San Emeterio, and sharp shooting from Dubljevic and Oriola proved decisive in the third period, when Barça were unable to capitalise on a decent start.

Tomic (17) and Koponen (16) topped the Barça Lassa scoring, and the side now has to regroup and start thinking about a crunch EuroLeague game with Emporio Armani on Thursday. Perperoglou, with a right ankle problem, was a late dropout on Saturday.

Fine start

It wasn’t spectacular hoops, but it was effective, as Barça broke Valencia’s early dominance to combine threes, defence and rebounds to go +9 (38-29).

With a 42% three-point conversion rate in the first twenty minutes, Barça well able to contain a 0-7 streak against their interests. Five from eight, including three from Vezenkov, were doing the trick in the second period, while limiting Valencia to a paltry 2/15 in field goals. Barça were leading by double figures at one point, and reached the interval in strong command at 38-29.

Valencia awaken

But Barça just couldn’t get things going in the third. Three consecutive threes from Rafa Martínez suddenly had his team in front, and with Dubljevic, Oriola and Rafa getting 7, 9 and 10 points in a dazzling period, Valencia had powered from -9 to +11.

A buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Koponen meant the final period started 51-59, and with three to play Barça had got back to within five. But Valencia knew how to make their lead count, while Barça paid for some late mistakes and ended up bowing out of the contest. 

Força Barça
Força Barça

Related to this article

Close article

Related to this article