In a battle between former continental champions, FC Barcelona did not find much trouble to beat Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 86-60 at Palau Blaugrana on Thursday. Nigel Hayes-Davis led the winners with 14 points and Dante Exum scored 12.
Barcelona improved to 19-5 in the standings and grabbed its third consecutive win while Panathinaikos dropped to 5-17 and is winless in nine road games this season. Georgios Papagiannis paced Panathinaikos with 18 points and Daryl Macon had 12. Sertac Sanli and Kyle Kuric helped Barcelona to a 17-15 edge at the end of the first quarter. Exum scored 7 unanswered points and Hayes-Davis took over late in the first half to boost the margin to 45-25 at halftime. Little changed after the break, as Barcelona improved its margin to 63-42 after 30 minutes and then to 75-49 midway through the fourth quarter to seal the outcome with time to spare.
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