Barça Lassa – Vive Kielce: Well-earned win to stay leaders (31-27)

FC Barcelona Lassa opened the month of November with a big win on Sunday night, beating visiting Vive Kielce, 31-27, in Champions League action at the Palau Blaugrana.

Aleix Gómez led all scorers with seven goals and Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas was outstanding in goal as the Catalans combined their speed with steady defending to rack up their fifth win in six group stage games.

Kielce goalkeeper Cupara was very strong at the other end, and if it weren’t for his key saves, Barça might have run away with this one before halftime. An 11-6 Barça lead early ran into a wall, allowing the visitors to go on a 4-0 run to make it 11-10 Barça, just six minutes from the intermission.

Barça, however, did not panic. Ariño scored in the 30th to give them a 14-11 lead at the break. And that lead grew in the second half thanks to goals from Gonzalo and Aleix Gómez, the latter of which put Barça up 20-14 in the 39th minute. 

But Kielce did not go down without a fight, and crawled back to within 22-20 with less the 15 minutes to play. Nevertheless, by the 54th minute, Barça had regained a seven-goal edge, at 29-22, sealing a win that keeps Els Blaugrana in a first-place tie with Vardar, the team’s next opponent in the Champions League.