Dario Brizuela-led Unicaja upset Barcelona at Palau / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

FC Barcelona (22-6) suffered a defeat at home against Unicaja Malaga (13-15) in a tough battle with the final score of 63-73(18-19, 14-16, 14-15, 17-23).

Dario Brizuela led Unicaja with 19 points (3/8 2PT, 4/4 3PT, 1/1 FT), 3 rebounds and 3 assists.

On the opposing side, Nikola Mirotic was the high scorer for Barcelona with 20 points (6/8 2PT, 1/4 3PT, 5/6 FT) and 5 rebounds.

After both teams exchanged some baskets in the beginning of last quarter, Jaime Fernandez drilled a 3-pointer, Jonathan Barreiro and Matt Mooney made jumpers and, finally, Axel Bouteille‘s three finished Unicaja‘s 10-0 run (66-52) with 4:46 remaining.

Barcelona stepped up in defense, made couple of baskets and after Nicolas Laprovittola‘s triple reduced the deficit just to 7 points (61-68) with 2:05 left.

Dejan Kravic responded with a duo (70-61), Rokas Jokubaitis turned the ball over and Unicaja celebrated the hard-fought and unexpected W at Palau Blaugrana.

After the close game in the first half, Unicaja managed to build 7 points lead (40-33) in the third period. Jokubaitis made a layup, Mirotic added 2-pointer and a pair of free throws and Barca came back to the game (39-40). Mainly because of amazing Dario Brizuela performance, Unicaja kept the lead (50-46) at the end of the third quarter.

Barcelona: Nikola Mirotic 20 (6 REB), Brandon Davies 10

Unicaja: Dario Brizuela 19, Jaime Fernandez 13, Tim Abromaitis 9 (5 REB), Axel Bouteille 9

Thank you for being with us! Subscribe to BN+ and browse ad-free.