By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Darussafaka put the pressure on Barcelona, but thanks to Ante Tomic and Chris Singleton, the guests prevailed after a big fight. The final score was 79-71 after a contest which was decided in the last four minutes.
The Croatian big man scored 17 points and set the tone early in the game, Singleton had 18 points which include crucial plays down the stretch and Thomas Heurtel with 13 points and five assists also got the job done. For the hosts, Michael Eric was impressive with 17 points and nine rebounds, but couldn’t make things happen in the end.
Barcelona started the game with a 23-18 first quarter and Tomic was dominating the paint, scoring nine of his points in the first eight minutes of action. Darussafaka cut the lead to two points during the second quarter, however, Barcelona managed to build a double-digit advantage (47-37).
An amazing full-court shot by Berk Demir at the buzzer of the second period gave hope to Darussafaka (47-40) and the hosts continued their comeback in the third quarter. Eric and Standon Kidd led the charge, as the hosts started the second half with a 9-0 run and got the lead (49-47).
“In the third quarter we didn’t play, it was catastrophic”, admitted Barcelona’s coach Svetislav Pesic. “Next time that happens we will lose the game, but we were lucky we had ten minutes more”.
The third period ended with Dacka having a six-point advantage (64-58) and the guests with their backs against the wall. The reaction came from the French duo of Heurtel and Kevin Seraphin who sparked a 9-0 run. For four minutes the Turkish side couldn’t score and Barcelona got the lead back (67-64).
Eric tied the score at 67 with four minutes left in the game and everything started from zero. And his absence for two minutes, when he was called for his fourth foul a few seconds later, ended up being one of the most important details of the night. Barcelona sealed the win with an 8-0 run (77-69) with Singleton scoring half of those points.
As Darussafaka’s coach Ahmet Caki admitted: “In the fourth quarter we gave up a 0-9 run so they got control, and we couldn’t organize our game offensively. If you score just 7 points in a quarter in EuroLeague you cannot win.”