FC Barcelona took the high road to a first-place finish in regular season Group C by dominating Panathinaikos Athens on the road Friday for a 67-80 victory. After an hour-long delay at halftime, when the arena was evacuated for a security sweep following an alleged bomb threat, Panathinaikos erased most of 17-point deficit that Barcelona took into the break on the strength of a 11-0 first-quarter run. But Barcelona soon roared back to take control until the finish and raise its record to 9-1, the second-best mark of the regular season. Panathinaikos fell to 5-5 but was sure to be third, despite a tie with EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, due to a tiebreak advantage. Marcelinho Huertas orchestrated the victory with 17 points, 9 assists, while Deshaun Thomas added 15. Maciej Lampa added a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Mario Hezonja scored 9 more. Barcelona's defense held Panathinaikos to just 23 points in the first half, and by the end the Greens had only two double-digit scorers, Antonis Fotsis with 14 points and Loukas Mavrokefalidis with 10. Panathinaikos played without team leader Dimitris Diamantidis, but saw point guard DeMarcus Nelson return from injury to play his first Euroleague game in green.
Score in each period: 10-21, 23-40, 47-60, 67-80
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