Barça 102-99 Valencia Basket: Victorious again at the Palau

After a tough week with a win in Belgrade and a defeat in Paris, Barça beat Valencia Basket back at the Palau on Sunday to move up to second in the regular season table. Kevin Punter (24) and Jabari Parker (18) led the scoring.

It was also a day of tributes to the flood victims in the visitors' community, with the teams coming onto the court bearing a message of support for their families.

Willy Hernangómez was outstanding in the opening plays as Barça quickly moved into a double figure lead (29-19), which was as many as 16 in the second period before a stunning 11-0 streak threw Valencia straight back into contention. Juan Nuñez broke the run with four points of his own and by the interval, the home side were back into a commanding lead (50-38).

Valencia again reacted by getting back to within 5, but eight straight points from Kevin Punter swung things back the blaugrana way. In an extraordinary back-and-forth game, Valencia narrowed the gap to four with just 10 minutes to play (71-67).

Barça could break away for the fourth time, and the difference was just three with a minute on the clock. Velencia has a number of chances to concoct a game-winning play, but none of them came off, and Barça held on for the win.

Barça now travel to Munich on Friday, after which there is an international break.

MATCH STATS

BARÇA, 102
VALÈNCIA BASKET, 99
 
Barça: Punter (24), Anderson (8), Hernangómez (13), Núñez (8), Parker (18), Vesely (12), Brizuela (-), Metu (6), Satoransky (5), Fall (-), Abrines (2), Parra (6).

València Basket: Reuvers (14), Pradilla (7), López-Arostegui (5), Montero (11), Ojeleye (19), Badio (6), Puerto (10), De Larrea (-), Jones (16), Jovic (2), Costello (4), Sestina (5).
 
Periods: 29-19; 21-19 // 21 -29; 31-32.
 
Referees: Benjamín Jiménez, Joaquín García, Andrés Fernández.