It was the Serbian side's first win at Palau Blaugrana following 12 straight road defeats at Barcelona's home
Crvena Zvezda pulls out a dramatic win in Barcelona, 74-78
In a tight contest that went down to the wire, Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade pulled out a 74-78 win over FC Barcelona on Friday night at Palau Blaugrana. Zvezda, which lost the first game between these two teams in overtime and therefore holds the head-to-head tiebreaker improved to 10-8 on the season, while Barcelona dropped to a 9-9 record.
Neither team had a lead bigger than 7 points in the second half, as Zvezda and Barcelona exchanged leads throughout the night. Kevin Punter's triple in the penultimate minute tied the game at 74-74, but Dejan Davidovac nailed a corner three, his only field goal of the game, with 21 seconds to go, which proved to be the game-winning basket. Filip Petrusev scored 17 points, Nikola Kalinic had 12, and Mike Daum netted 11 for Zvezda. Chimezie Metu netted 16 points, while Punter poured in 13 in a losing effort.
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Barcelona scored the first 10 points, with Metu hitting back-to-back triples and making a jumper for a double-digit margin after 2 minutes and 20 seconds. But Daum hit a pair of threes, before a dunk from Joel Bolomboy helped Zvezda turn it around and take a 10-11 lead. Joel Parra had a three for the hosts, but Petrusev scored the last 6 points for Zvezda in the quarter to make it 15-19 after 10 minutes.
Yago dos Santos had a driving layup that extended the margin to 6 points, but Punter hit back-to-back shots from way downtown to tie it at 23-23. But Yago and Daum each drained a three-pointer, and Petrusev had a big dunk to open a 25-32 score. However, Metu and Punter got Barca's offense going again, and Punter scored the last 4 points of the first half to close it with a 10-2 run, giving the hosts a 35-34 halftime lead.
Zvezda scored the first 7 points of the third quarter, with Kalinic getting a lucky bounce on a three-pointer to help make it 37-43, but Metu scored from the outside and inside before Jan Vesely's transition jumper put the hosts back in front, 44-43. Petrusev hit from downtown for the visitors, then Alex Abrines and Nemanja Nedovic traded triples. The two teams traded leads, including when Dario Brizuela hit a triple to make it 56-54, then nailed a half-court shot to put the hosts 59-56 ahead after 30 minutes.
Willy Hernangomez extended the margin on the opening possession of the fourth, but Petrusev scored 5 points in a 0-7 run to restore Zvezda's advantage. Barcelona went in front with Hernangomez and Anderson scoring inside, before Kalinic had a three-point play to make it 65-66. Jabari Parker and Vesely scored from close range, but Yago had a pair of tough runners to put Zvezda up 71-74 with 2:07 to go. Barcelona made a defensive stand, then Punter sank a three-pointer to tie the game. However, Davidovac hit a corner triple with 21 seconds left, after which Zvezda forced a turnover and held on to the lead.