Barça 89-81 Fenerbahce: Hard work rewarded

FC Barcelona beat Fenerbahce 89-81 in Friday's EuroLeague encounter, a game in which the Turks dominated in the first half but the home side were bale to sort things out in the second. Willy Hernangómez and Laprovittola led the scoring with 21 and 15 points respectively.

Visitors impress

Barça needed to bite back after losing to Virtus Bologna on Wednesday and by going 12-4 in just four minutes it looked like they were going to just that. But once Fenerbahce sent out Wilbekin and Dorsey the whole thing changed, and the Turkish side was +3 by the end of the period.

Fenerbahce's charge continued, but 3-point accuracy meant Barça didn't drop any further behind until a series of sloppy mistakes gifted the visitors a 0-11 streak, meaning that by half.time, Barça were in deep trouble (38-50).

Home side reacts

Top defending from Abrines had a lot to do with Fenerbahce's inability to capitalise any further on their dominant period, and instead Barça slowly chipped away at the difference and by the end of the third period had managed to get back to within just one point (63-64).

Six consecutive points from Laprovittola had the Palau on its feet. Instead of heading for a loss, Barça were suddenly charging for a win. Playing with the kind of confidence they had been lacking until then, two from Satoransky and a triple from Laprovittola in the final minute and that was it. Barça ended up winning by eight.

Next up is a Sunday road trip to Casademont Zaragoza in the domestic league, that one starting at 6.30pm CET.

MATCH STATS

Barça, 89
Fenerbahce, 81

Barça:  Satoransky (12), Laprovittola (15), Kalinic (7), Da Silva (0), Vesely (12), Hernangómez (21), Brizuela (0), Abrines (3), Parker (8), Jokubaitis (3), Parra (8).

Fenerbahce: Guduric (4), Calathes (0), Hays-Davis (18), Motley (15), Pierre (5), Wilbein (10), Sanli (7), Biberovic (3), Dorsey (13), Madar (6), Sestina (0).

Periods: 16-19, 22-31 // 25-14, 26-17

Referees: Damir Javor, Milioje Jovcic, Arturas Sukys.