By Eurohoops Team / info@eurohoops.net
FC Barcelona Lassa finished off a tough week with back-to-back victories, after defeating Panathinaikos OPAP Athens, 79 – 68, winning its fifth straight game.
Barcelona’s leader, Thomas Heurtel, had his best game of the season, finishing with a season-high 23 points. Kevin Seraphin was also on point and affected the game on both ends of the court, flirting with a double-double of 14 points and eight rebounds.
The French duo of the hosts started the game off positively, as Barcelona built an early eight-point lead, 25-17. Ioannis Papapetrou scored ten points in the second quarter and eventually after the end of the first half, the guests trailed by just one point (37-36).
At the start of the second half, Svetislav Pesic’s squad went on an impressive 14-0 run, that put the team up by double-digits (53-42), but Panathinaikos with Papapetrou responded once again and cut the deficit to four points to end the third period (56-52).
In the fourth quarter, Heurtel, Claver, and Seraphin kept on making shots and Barcelona with two minutes remaining was up by seven points, 72-65. Rick Pitino’s side tried to respond, but Heurtel and Hanga scored two three-point daggers that finished off the Greeks.
Coach Pesic was happy, after defeating Panathinaikos: “We played a team that was with full energy and additional motivation, with a new coach and good concepts on defense. This is the reason why we are happy. Like always, it is important how we won the game against a team with a very aggressive defense that came wanting to win the game, which is normal. We kept calm, sticking to our concepts, knowing what we wanted to play in the crucial moments of the game, and this, of course, is very important.”
From the visiting side, Papapetrou shined with 17 points.
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