FC Bayern Munich took a major step forward in its fight to reach the playoffs by sweeping its season series with Barcelona
Bayern rallies for 101-102 victory in Barcelona

FC Bayern Munich grabbed a massive road victory in its fight for the playoffs as it rallied to beat FC Barcelona 101-102. In a battle of teams tied in the standings going into the game, Bayern trailed by 8 points with 3 minutes left but its much-maligned defense held on in a 2-11 run to close the game - winning on Vladimir Lucic’s free throws with 17 seconds left. The last of 23 lead changes decided the game and gave Bayern an 18-13 record including a season sweep of Barcelona.
Carsen Edwards scored 23 points with 5 assists while Elias Harris had 17 points, Nick Weiler-Babb added 16 and Shabazz Napier chipped in 13 points for Bayern, which moved to 6-10 away from home. Andreas Obst was held to just 6 points after having drained a EuroLeague record 11 three-pointers for 34 points in the first meeting against Barcelona in November in Round 11.
Barcelona saw its three-game winning streak snapped to fall to 17-14 despite Jabari Parker pouring in 23 points, Kevin Punter scoring 20 points and Willy Hernangomez picking up 13 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
Game Videos
Parker had a good first shift with two baskets and an assist as Barcelona led 8-5 early on and a Hernangomez three-point play made it 11-7. Bayern scored the next 5 points to take the lead 11-12, the first of 13 lead changes over the next 5 minutes in a thrilling, high-scoring back-and-forth battle. Napier sank 2 threes in the final moments and Bayern led 28-30 after 10 minutes, which saw a total of 15 lead changes.
The game remained tight with three Chimezie Metu baskets keeping Barcelona close at 36-37. Bayern built the first significant lead with a 0-10 run over 2 minutes thanks to 2 triples from Edwards to lead 36-47. Parker stopped the rut and hit a three-pointer but Barcelona could not really cut into the deficit, trailing 45-56. Punter stepped up for Barcelona with 2 assists and back-to-back three-pointers in a 10-0 close to the first half to head into the break down just 55-56. The 56 points were the most points allowed by Barcelona at halftime of a EuroLeague home game.
The start of the second half got back to the seesaw with 6 more lead changes in the opening 3+ minutes and back-to-back triples from Edwards made it 63-67. Barcelona punched back with the next 8 points to reclaim the lead 71-67. The mood at the Palau Blaugrana was dampened about midway through the third quarter when Metu went down injured without any contact and had to be helped off the court. It was 73-68 when Bayern’s sharpshooter Obst finally hit his first three-pointer with 2 minutes left in the quarter. Obst added a second triple and Bayern was down just 77-76 after 30 minutes.
Barcelona opened the final frame with back-to-back three-pointers to move the lead to 83-76. The second triple was the first basket from Dario Brizuela, who had Barcelona’s next 5 points to make it 88-81. Bayern’s high-octane offense started to stall and Barcelona went ahead 94-83 with 5 minutes to go. It was 99-91 with 3 minutes left, but the visitors would not go away with Weiler-Babb’s jumper followed by an Edwards layup to make it 101-100. After Brizuela’s miss, Lucic made 2 free throws with 17 seconds to go ahead 101-102. Bayern grabbed the win when Punter’s three-pointer at the buzzer was off-target.