FC Barcelona Lassa v Herbalife Gran Canária: Positivity maintained following triumph at the death (79-78)

FC Barcelona Lassa v Herbalife Gran Canária: Positivity maintained following triumph at the death (79-78)

Bartzokas' players maintained their positive run in a frantic final quarter in which two free throws from Rice clinched victory in the final second of the match

FC Barcelona Lassa have had a very successful weekend having won on Friday in the Euroleague and again on Sunday in the Endesa League. Bartzokas' men beat Herbalife Gran Canaria (79-78) in a spectacular final quarter, which ended with Rice sealing victory with two free throws in the final second of the game.

The game started with Gran Canaria on the front foot and they took a 6-0 lead before Barça got going through Tomic. The visitors kept pushing and had a seven point lead at one point before a Rice three pointer started the blaugranas reaction.

Tomic scores freely

Barça Lassa grew into the game through two successive three pointers from Doellman keeping Lassa in touch with Palomo Cárdenas' team. Tomic led the fightback with ten points in the first quarter helping Barça Lassa to a 23-19 lead at the end of the opening ten minutes.

In the second quarter the blaugranas looked more comfortable and the scoreboard began to reflect this. Solid defence and three pointers from Perperoglou, Renfroe and Oleson, helped create a lead. The team from the Canary Islands did not give up, however, and they stayed in touch with a half time score of 45-39.

Back on level terms

The third quarter saw a comeback from the away team who played with real intensity to come back into the game. Barça Lassa tried to maintain their lead but weren't able to contain Gran Canária in a difficult third quarter for the home side. This left the game finely poised with the opposition three points ahead at the end of the quarter on 56-59.

The Catalan team started this final quarter with intent and regained the lead through Renfroe, who was making his Endesa League debut, and Vezenkov. A spectacular Perperoglou three pointer brought victory a little closer.

Happy ending

Koponen and Perperoglou contributed two more three pointers giving Barça Lassa a lead of 11 five minutes form time. Nonetheless, the visitors never stopped believing and recovered from a difficult position to go one point clear four seconds from time. Rice was fouled and he himself took control of the situation by scoring the two free throws which clinched a hard-fought victory one second from time.

Eventually, Barça managed to win a game which went down to the wire (79-78). It didn't come easily and the home team had to suffer in order to finish the weekend with their second victory in 48 hours.

Força Barça
Força Barça

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