FCBARCELONA.CAT

30.11.2008 14:28

Hard-fought win (86-82)

Carles Cascante

Regal FC Barcelona have beaten Granada in the eleventh round of ACB matches. The visitors made a game of it right to the end, but Pascual’s men managed to hold onto the lead and rack up their seventh win in the domestic Spanish League.

Granada once again showed that there are no easy games and were not overawed by their opponents. They gave their all in the game with Videnov (27), Borchardt (12) and Hunter (13) notching up most points. For Barça Navarro broke the barrier of 5,000 points in ACB competitions.

However, today was when the Catalans had to roll up their metaphorical sleeves and slug it out. Santiago was sensational, and Barça dominated the first and second quarters. Their game dropped off a bit in the third quarter, but in the final stretch they came good again to walk away with all three points.

Santiago leads first half

Santiago turned in a superb performance. Against Zalgiris Kaunas he was spectacular in defence and got into two figures for the first time in a Barça vest, while this Sunday he moved up a gear at 15 points and 6 rebounds. Barça were on top in the first quarter and at 14 to 6, after a 2+1 by Santiago, it looked as if they might run away with it. But nobody had told Granada, and Gianella and Bronchardt brought them back into the game to finish the quarter at 24 to 20.

After the restart Barrett came off the bench to replace Lakovic. Barça then raced into a ten-point lead at 44-34. For Granada, ex-Barça player Martín, Videnov and Maric were leading the way. A three-pointer from Cherry on the hooter left the half-time scoreboard at Palau Blaugrana reading 48 to 41.

Visitors come back

Granada stormed back in the second half and turned things around with three pointers by Videnov who notched four in the third quarter and two in the fourth. Five and a half minutes before the end of the third period, the visitors went ahead for the second time at 53-55 (they had led by 16 to 18 in the first quarter). The alarm bells started ringing and became shriller when Granada went five ahead at 57-62 just before the end of the third quarter. However there was still time left for Grimau to put Barça back in the lead at 65 to 64.

Close but controlled end

In the last period a run of six unanswered points by Regal FC Barcelona left the score at 79 to 73, but once more the visitors staged a comeback. Ilyasova, however, virtually put paid to their hopes with a three-pointer to make it 84-77, and though the final score of 86-82 was a little closer, Barça still managed to control the final stages of the game.