Barcelona hold off Bayern's late push behind Higgins and Davies brilliance / News - Basketnews.com

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FC Bayern Munich (0-2) played their first Turkish Airlines EuroLeague home game, welcoming FC Barcelona(2-0). In the end, last year's EuroLeague finalists edged out the hosts 80-72 (16-15, 28-18, 19-14, 17-25).

Player of the Game EFF 25 Cory Higgins Points 16 Accuracy 3-6 Rebounds 3 Assists 5

Barcelona had a comfortable 16-point advantage at the start of the fourth quarter. However, Bayern did not roll over and started chipping at Barca's lead.

Deshaun Thomas, Othello Hunter, Corey Walden helped Bayern to an 11-3 to cut the deficit to six with 1:19 to go (68-74).

However, Barcelona kept their composure, maintaining an advantage and keeping their undefeated streak with an eight-point victory.

Cory Higgins and Brandon Davies were superb for Barcelona. Higgins finished with 16 points (2/4 2PT, 1/2 3PT, 9/11 FT), 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 3 turnovers, and 25 PIR.

"Being more physical and mentally strong made the difference for me tonight, I played tough basketball," Higgins said post-game. "As a team, we had the right mindset about being physical today. I was struggling in the first half, but my teammates and coach gave me confidence and that’s what this team’s all about, we always pick each other up.”

Davies added 15 points (3/5 2PT, 1/3 3PT, 6/8 FT), 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, and 10 PIR.

Darrun Hillard helped Bayern keep the game close, finishing with 18 points (5/7 2PT, 2/7 3PT, 2/3 FT), 1 rebound, 1 assist, 4 steals, 3 turnovers, and 16 PIR.

The game was close for most of the first half, with 10 lead changes during the first 20 minutes. However, Barcelona finished the half with an impressive 10-0 run, led by Brandon Davies and Nikola Mirotic, to take an 11-point advantage at the half (44-33).

Bayern started the second half well, with Walden and Thomas bringing their team within six 44-38. But then, Barcelona rallied, increasing their lead to 20 points (63-43) towards the end of the third.

Barca's head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius was pleased with his team's performance in this game: "I’m very happy. I told my team it’s a big win. A lot of teams will come to Munich and lose. They are a great home team, very well prepared, and always play physical basketball in the right way.

I thought defensively we were very solid until the last couple of minutes. Offensively also when we didn’t turn the ball over, we were very good. For this part of the season, this was pretty good basketball. Obviously, we need to keep on improving and hopefully, we will do that."

Barcelona: Cory Higgins 18 (5 AST), Brandon Davies 15, Nikola Mirotic 11, Rokas Jokubaitis 9, Kyle Kuric 8, Nick Calathes 6, Nigel Hayes 6, Pierre Oriola 4, Rolands Smits 3, Nicolas Laprovittola 2.

Bayern: Darrun Hillard 18, Deshaun Thomas 14, Augustin Rubit 13, Zan Sisko 7, Othello Hunter 6, Corey Walden 5, Nick Weiler-Babb 4, Ognjen Jaramaz 3, Gavin Schilling 2.

Highlights

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