The Barcelona veterans combined for 53 of their team’s 98 points in a road victory
Shengelia, Punter take matters into their hands to down ASVEL
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 24 of 38
Regular Season
LDLC ASVEL VilleurbanneASV
9198
FC BarcelonaBAR
Overview
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No game is easy in the EuroLeague, and LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne proved exactly that against FC Barcelona on Friday night. However, what the hosts couldn’t handle was the impact of league legends Kevin Punter and Toko Shengelia, who stepped up after the break to help their team clinch a 91-98 victory at the Astroballe.
Heading into Friday’s clash on the back of two straight road losses, the Catalan side was looking to grab a victory that would allow it to complete a perfect double-round week. And Barcelona did just that, but it struggled against a relentless ASVEL.
Despite coming into the clash on the back of four straight losses following Nando De Colo’s midseason departure to reigning champion Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, the hosts hit the ground running with Glynn Watson spearheading their offense.
The ASVEL guard pulled off an extraordinary outing in the first half, ending the first quarter on 10 points. He added seven more points to his tally in the second quarter, having gone 7-for-9 from the field, as ASVEL took a 49-47 edge at halftime.
Enter Shengelia, who recorded eight straight points, two drawn fouls, an assist, a steal in the first three and a half minutes of the third quarter. He singlehandedly fought back in a trade of blows that saw him tie the game up at 57-57.
And then it was Punter’s turn to do his thing, with the Barcelona guard drilling three triples and a one inside the arc for 11 straight points that gave the visitors a 60-68 lead.
But ASVEL hadn't said its last word, with Mbaye Ndiaye scoring inside to bring his team within 76-78 in the opening stages of the fourth quarter. Punter and Shengelia came to the fore again by combining for 16 of Barcelona’s last 20 points as the guests put the game to bed down the stretch.
The latter went 7-for-9 from the field and 7-for-7 from the charity stripe, posting 22 points to go with 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
“It’s a very important win for us,” Shengelia told EuroLeague TV. “We had many ups and downs during the game, but we kept fighting. It was one of those days, we didn’t start well, especially physically in defense. We had to change this mentality in the second half which we did a little bit.”
Having gone 7-for-8 from inside the arc, 4-for-6 from deep and 5-for-7 from the free-throw line, Punter ended the game on 31 points. The 32-year-old guard bounced back from adversity, following a poor outing that saw him score just 3 points in the derby loss against Real Madrid, by scoring a total of 51 points this week.
“He’s playing excellent,” Barcelona head coach Xavi Pascual said in the postgame press conference. “He’s one of the key players at Barcelona. We are lucky to have him on our team. He always approaches the game with really good concentration.”
Having improved its record to 16-8, Barcelona travels to Greece next week for a colossal clash against an in-form Olympiacos Piraeus, which it beat 98-85 back in mid-December.
With Punter and Shengelia performing at such a high level, however, Pascual will be quietly confident of securing a statement victory at Peace and Friendship Stadium.
