Barcelona held off a spirited Zalgiris comeback, late on to prevail 92-86 and snap a two-game losing run in the Euroleague Top 16, Group F.
After leading 65-55 after three quarters, then 80-67 late on, Barcelona looked to be heading towards a comfortable win, but the Lithuanian champions fought back but were not able to get any closer than six points.
Juan Carlos Navarro led the way with 14 points for Barcelona as they improve to 3-4, while Zalgiris slides further into trouble at 1-6.
“We are happy with this win,” Barca coach Xavi Pascual said. “We played well on offence, other than in the opening five minutes. We missed a lot of free throw attempts but had good shooting percentages otherwise and played really well on offence for 35 minutes, too. It was hard for us defensively: Zalgiris felt confident. But we managed to keep a seven-point lead for a big while. Winning is the most important thing and climbing a bit in this group’s standings.”
The other game in Group F saw CSKA Moscow beat Olympiacos 92-85 at the MegaSport Arena in Moscow.
Milos Teodosic hit 10 points in the final quarter for 21 points and five assists for CSKA as they keep the share of top spot with Laboral Kutxa in the group.
In Group E, Panathinaikos beat Anadolu Efes 83-78 in an exciting encounter in Athens as the Greek side go to 4-3 overall.
Miroslav Raduljica went for 23 points in just 27 minutes on the court, going 8/12 from the field and the Serbian international also pulled down eight rebounds in the win.
Anadolu Efes drop to 3-4 in the group.
Lokomotiv Kuban remain in second place in Group E after they defeated Darussafaka Dogus 82-58 in Krasnodar.
Leading 44-28 at the half, Lokomotiv broke the game open further in the third, racing ahead with an 11-0 run to make the game safe.
Lokomotiv improved to 5-2 at the halfway point of the Top 16, while Darussafaka remains in last place in with a 1-6 record. Anthony Randolph led Lokomotiv with 18 points.
