Barca rebound to trounce La Bruixa, Unicaja hold on

MarioHezonja - Cropped

Liga ACB champions Barcelona returned to winning ways with an emphatic 101-53 thumping of La Bruixa d'Or as leaders Unicaja fended off a brave fight from Laboral Kutxa.

Barca were beaten 103-94 by Laboral last weekend, but rebounded to trounce La Bruixa at Palau Blaugrana on Sunday.

Small forward Mario Hezonja led the way with an excellent 24 points after going eight from eight with three-point attempts.

Such was the hosts' superiority, La Bruixa had just 13 points by half-time – scoring just one basket not from the free-throw line by the interval.

La Bruixa improved slightly in the final two quarters, but they were vastly outclassed by a Barca side who proved their superiority to improve to a 13-6 record.

Unicaja remain top of the pile after holding on to beat Laboral 76-74.

In a closely fought contest, Joan Plaza's men triumphed with Mindaugas Kuzminskas (17), Fran Vazquez (16) and Jayson Granger (15) contributing heavily.

Real Madrid remain the closest challengers and they had four players reach double figures in a comfortable 86-70 beating of Lagun Aro.

Bilbao remain just two wins off Unicaja courtesy of an 84-72 success over MoraBanc Andorra and they now share a 14-5 record with Joventut, who slipped to a narrow 78-75 loss to Estudiantes.

Play-off hopefuls Valencia were shocked by a 79-72 reverse at basement team Sevilla, who won for just the fourth time this season, while Zaragoza failed to make the most of home court advantage as they lost 83-72 to Iberostar Tenerife.

Also on Sunday, Murcia defeated Fuenlabrada 82-69, while on Friday Gran Canaria succumbed to an 80-68 loss at Xacobeo Blusens.

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