No undefeated teams: Barca stop Fenerbahce behind Laprovittola's show / News - Basketnews.com

Barcelona wasted a 15-point advantage in the fourth quarter.

Credit: Rodolfo Molina/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Rodolfo Molina/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

FC Barcelona came off an impressive last week's win against EA7 Emporio Armani Milan and turned that into its first winning streak of the season by taking down undefeated Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, 81-80 (21-19, 18-17, 23-13, 19-31).

Player of the Game EFF 28 Nicolas Laprovittola Points 26 Accuracy 7-11 Rebounds 1 Assists 7

Barca laid foundations for their victory in the third quarter, spurting 14-2 and creating a solid 16-point lead (60-44).

Fenerbahce stayed in this game, thanks to Nick Calathes and Johnathan Motley, who brought an end to push.

A buzzer-beating bucket by Tomas Satoransky meant that Barca had a double-digit lead (62-49) entering the last tally.

The visitors decided to keep Motley on the court with 4 fouls and give Melli Mahmutoglu and Shemus Hazer a chance, and it worked incredibly well. Fenerbahce scored 20 points in 6 minutes of the fourth quarter and came within 5 points (69-74).

Fener kept pushing andhad the last possession of the game to tie it up, trailing 81-78 with 10 seconds to go, but Johnathan Motley decided to go for a two-point basket instead of trying the three. That meant that Barcelona could celebrate beating the last unbeaten team in the 2022-23 EuroLeague.

Jan Vesely and Nick Calathes met their respective former teams. Vesely had 4 points for the winners, while EuroLeague's assist king scored 8 points and dished out 3 assists.

Nicolas Laprovittola was the player of the game, finishing the match with 26 points(2/32P, 5/8 3PT, 7/9 FT), 1 rebound, 7 assists, and 28 PIR.

Barcelona: Nicolas Laprovittola 26 (7 AST), Nikola Kalinic 14 (2/4 3PT), Mike Tobey 13 (5/6 2PT, 7 REB), Rokas Jokubaitis 8.

Fenerbahce: Johnathan Motley 23 (9/12 2PT, 5/5 FT, 7 REB, 26 PIR), Melih Mahmutoglu 11 (3/5 3PT), Marko Guduric 11, Nick Calathes 8 (2/7 2PT).

Highlights

Thank you for reading us! We have even more content for you.