Higgins punishes a good Baskonia

Higgins punishes a good Baskonia

Duel equalized until Barça broke it in the last 4 minutes

BARCELONA, Nov. 25 (EUROPA PRESS) -

Barça beat Cazoo Baskonia (96-84) this Friday at the Palau Blaugrana, on matchday ten of the Euroleague Regular Phase, in a fratricidal duel that the 'culés' took in the final stretch, with a result too cruel for some baskonistas who had 4 minutes left over.

It had been an even pulse, with few advantages on the scoreboard, until in the last set Barça got their act together to sign a 20-11 victory that tipped the balance on their side. Thanks, above all, to the triples of a Cory Higgins who left his stadium with an ovation and who was key to achieving the seventh victory in the competition.

Undoubtedly, the mini-stretches of triples by Nicolás Laprovittola, first, and Cory Higgins, in final sentence of the clash, ended up erasing a Baskonia that started leading, although without great maxims, and that was involved in the fight until Higgins said: 'not at my house'.

There was a beautiful battle in the paint between Oscar Da Silva from Blaugrana (11 points) and Matthew Costello from Baskonia (13), with a very valuable contribution from Jan Vesely, who perhaps played his best offensive game for Barça in the Euroleague, with 18 points and 6/9 on shots from two.

In the creation zone, this time Nicolás Laprovittola could not be the offensive stiletto he has been, he stayed at 9 points, but his was the first spark that ended up igniting Higgins, Barça and Palau. So, with the permission of the 'MVP' of the game, Jan Vesely, it was the shooting guard who, with his 17 points and 4 triples, retained the victory for the home team.

Of course, the top scorer of the game did not go home happy, because it was Baskonista Markus Howard. After several bad games, the leading scorer for Joan Peñarroya's men once again shone at a high level, as evidenced by his 25 points. Even if he was insufficient to win.

And it is that Baskonia had the last 4 minutes left over, in which they lost and saw themselves surpassed by a Barça that opened partials and maximums and saw themselves, suddenly, so superior that they inflicted excessive punishment on Baskonia. A heart-stopping finish, partying in Barcelona, ​​which left the people of Vitoria touched, who are now two wins behind their rival in the table.

--RESULT: BARÇA, 96 - CAZOO BASKONIA, 84 (52-48, at halftime).

BARÇA: Laprovittola (9), Satoransky (7), Kalinic (7), Tobey (9) y Sanli (8) --quinteto inicial--; Da Silva (11), Vesely (18), Abrines (6), Higgins (17), Jokubaitis (4) and Nnaji (-).

CAZOO BASKONIA: Howard (25), Henry (13), Giedraitis (7), Enoch (4) and Costello (13) --starting five--; Raieste (-), Marinkovic (-), Díez (3), Thompson (9), Kotsar (2) and Hommes (8).

-- PARTIALS: 22-22, 30-26, 24-25 and 20-11.

--REFEREES: Boltauzer, Jovcic and Bissang. They eliminated Kotsar in the Cazoo Baskonia.

--HALL: Palau Blaugrana, 5,599 spectators.