Barça Regal chalked up their second win of the Euroleague Topo16 phase with a hard won, but well deserved victory over Olympiacos which sends a clear message to the other teams in Group F. Olympiacos missed the points scoring of Vassilis Spanoulis, who was snuffed out, particularly after the second quarter when Xavi Pascual’s team took control and stretched to a ten point lead (32-22). From then on, Barça controlled the game, despite a number of technical fouls, and ran out clear 76.68 winners.
Good start for the visitors
The reigning European champions made a great start, running up a 0-5 lead with a three pointer from Papanikolaou and a basket from Spanoulis, before Victor Sada led the Barça reply, as they moved to an 18-11 lead and the Barça defence stood firm and strong.
A three pointer from Sarunas Jasikevicius brought the Palau to their feet at the start of the second quarter and were soon 10 points ahead on 32-22. Soon after a technical foul against Tomic caused a set to as the Barça players protested, but that didn’t affect Barça’s lead and they went in 41-32 up at the break.
Barça’s key player, Juan Carlos Navarro was withdrawn at half time with a problem with his foot, but his teammates kept up the pressure and Jasikevicius racked up the points and assists as the team maintained their lead – 60-52 at the end of the third quarter.
Antic threatened with a series of three pointers in the last ten minutes, but it wasn’t enough to cut the Barça lead, which had been stretched to 11 points (66-55) at the start of the final quarter . The Greeks pressed hard, but Barça held on to take their second win in the Top 16 thanks to a strong defence and key defensive rebounds.
