Darío Brizuela poured in 22 points, including the basket that sealed the game five seconds from time, as FC Barcelona defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv 93-90 in Sofia, Diari de Girona reported.
Brizuela’s third quarter changed the game. With Barcelona trailing 57-49 and looking flat, he scored 12 points in the period to swing the score to 64-73 and hand his team a decisive injection of confidence. The lead was not definitive until the final seconds, when Brizuela hit the shot that locked in the win.
Brizuela’s third quarter flips the game
The Barcelona guard finished with 22 points, advancing past Robinson, who had 20 in the closing stretch on a night when the rest of the team’s shooters struggled. The game had the look of a two-man duel at the end, with Hapoel leaning on Vasilije Micic (24) and Elijah Bryant (25) to stay close.
No — the teams were level at 46-46 at halftime, after another big Robinson three. The quarter-by-quarter scores were 21-19, 25-27, 18-27 and 26-20, with Barcelona’s 27-point third quarter the only period that produced a decisive swing.
A cold start in an empty arena
Hapoel hosted the game at a rented venue in Sofia without the backing of its own fans, and the atmosphere was unusual: a cold, silent arena where only the shouts of coaches and players could be heard. Barcelona started badly — Kevin Punter, the 11th man to come off the bench, did not start, and the team opened 0-for-8 from three-point range, a drought that ended only on Robinson’s ninth attempt.
The empty building demanded concentration, and Josh Nebo provided it early, grabbing four offensive rebounds in the opening stretch. Nebo finished with 12 points.
Robinson and Nebo keep Barcelona afloat
On the Hapoel side, Micic was relentless, making his drives pay while Bryant searched for his rhythm before finding it. Tyrese Martin emerged briefly for Barcelona with four straight points before fading, and Joel Parra, so often the most lucid of the group in recent days, never got going — he was sent off with five fouls and a block, though he did not score and still defended well enough to help make the defeat irreversible.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Barcelona were a focused group: Martin stole the ball on Hapoel’s inbound and got animated. With 1:33 left and the score at 80-89, the margin was enough to absorb any late mistakes, and none came.
Fourth straight win tightens Barcelona’s grip
The final line read Hapoel Tel Aviv 90, FC Barcelona 93. Barcelona’s other contributors included Tyrese Martin (11), Kevin Punter (9), John Evbuomwan (8), William Nkamhoua (5), Tomas Minaya (3) and Chimezie Umude (3), while Hapoel also got 11 from Daniel Oturu, seven from Tamari Blakeney and six from Ray Wainwright.
Questions fans are asking about the Sofia game
Why did Hapoel play its “home” game in Sofia? The club staged the match at a rented venue in the Bulgarian capital, meaning it played without the support of its own supporters, Diari de Girona reported.
Darío Brizuela, with 22 points, including the game-sealing basket with five seconds remaining.
When did the game turn? In the third quarter, when Brizuela’s 12 points turned a 57-49 deficit into a 64-73 Barcelona lead.
