Four free throws made the difference. The two that Satoransky missed with 8 seconds left in overtime with 90-89 and the two that Robertson scored with 2s4 left. Thus was forged a new defeat for Barça and a triumph of great merit for Penya at the Palau.
Those from Peñarroya are looking into the abyss, with qualification for the Copa del Rey more in danger than ever, a competition that Barça has never missed with this format. Outside of the top eight places in the League, with three games left, a Barça that is still adrift does not even depend on itself and whether it measures up.
fateful mistake
Satoransky missed two key free throws with 8 seconds left in overtime
The brilliant (and necessary) victory in Paris was not continued by a relaxed and absent Barça. A happy and ambitious Penya seemed to float in a Palau with a large presence of black and green fans in the stands.
Miret’s team, which appeared in Barcelona ahead of its rival in the classification after many years, found in Gates the best page to debut the morning of the Parade. Up to three triples without failure – he ended up scoring six – the Atlanta player signed to really start to worry Peñarroya, who did not see it clearly at all.
Joventut was taking over the scoreboard against a Barça that was absolutely ineffective in attack, down to 11 points at the first horn. Pustovyi, who for a few minutes looked like Shaquille O’Neal, delved into the hole until the score was 7-19 against a Willy Hernangómez who , after his European exhibition, took the day off.
Metu emerged as the best unblocker for Barça. The Nigerian was the only one who seemed to have the courage to stand up a bit. Every time the ball came to him, he made a break and looked at the basket with confidence and, almost always, correctly. A breath of fresh air for a Barça team in much need.
Metu’s points marked a second quarter with a much improved Barça team, which began to get closer to the black and green in the light although it was not able to turn it around before the break. Barça cut to 31-32 but then received two triples in a row and had to put on their work overalls again to start the task again. Metu headed to the locker room with 14 points in his backpack and in his lifeguard costume.
This Barça does not seem to learn from its mistakes, which returned to the park again asleep and allowed Joventut to escape again. In the blink of an eye, a triple by Kraag stretched it back to 38-48.
Almost beginning to look into the abyss, a three-pointer by Metu in the last second of a crazy possession seemed to turn on some kind of switch. It’s not that Peñarroya’s team underwent a cosmic transformation, it was still very obtuse in attack, but in defense it began to work overtime. Several blocks in a few minutes confirmed it. In addition, a motivated Parra took over as Metu’s scorer.
Domination on the scoreboard still belonged to Miret’s men, but the Barça figure was already appearing in the rearview mirror. The beginning of the last act began as an exchange of blows that benefited the visitors much more, who reached the final minutes in the lead.
Everything exploded in 50 seconds in which Kevin Punter decided to leave his mark with three triples that put Barça ahead (72-70) for the first time since the initial basket of the morning. The American guard extended it to 76-72, the Barça maximum of the day. Unable to calm down, the Peñarroya team squandered that advantage in the final moments and a basket by Dolson ended up forcing overtime.
Nobody could take over the duel in those five extra minutes and it was Barça that had the victory in their hands. But, again, like so many other times in this course, he threw all his effort in the trash. With 8 seconds left, leading 90-89, Satoansky missed two free throws. On the other side, Robertson, with two seconds ahead, did not fail and signed the final 90-91 that left Barça close to the canvas.
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