Seven-souled Baskoniasent her Virtues in Ephesus and became… a candidate opponent of Panathinaikos AKTOR! Dusko Ivanovic’s side with spirited second-half display prevail in Bologna 95-91 and goes to Belgrade to face the “people’s team” in an away match!
Amazing performance by Marcus Howard who succeeded 34 points in 32:04 participation, with Marinkovic and McIntyre adding from 17 and 16 points respectively.
Great defense in the final by Chima Monekewho won the foul and locked up the win with 2/2 shots.
THE Lundberg big star for Banki’s side, with the Dane finishing the match with 18 pointsfive rebounds and two assists, when o Belinelli had 11 points.
The Tuesday 16/4 the “battle” of Baskonia with Maccabi in Belgrade with the Israeli team at home, with the winner facing Panathinaikos AKTOR.
The match:
The match in Bologna was evenly matched with the two teams keeping pace in the first period with Hackett, Belinelli and Sengelia doing the lion’s share of the scoring in the opening five minutes for Virtus, while Monecke, McIntyre and Costello assisted the Baskonia in defense and attack to stay within shooting distance for 17-15. Howard put the Basques in front for the first time with 13 seconds left in the first period, with Belinelli making a basket to make it 22-21.
Banky’s team was outstanding in the second quarter with Hackett being outstanding and Lundberg making it nine points with five minutes to go, 38-35, as Marcus Howard continued undeterred with a 3-pointer to tie the game at 38-38. But Virtus with a separate 13-0 brought the score to 51-38 going into the half with a safety difference of nine points (53-44).
Baskonia, sensational at the start of the second half, tightened its defense after 64-54 Belinelli found a score with Marinkovic and McIntyre bringing the match to +4 (67-71) just 1:48 before the final. Paiola and Lundberg helped Virtus react by making the score +1 (74-75) at the end of the 3rd period.
Shocking swing in the 4th period with Baskonia trailing to +6 and Virtus creeping closer with Jordan Mickey proving to be… an ace up Bunky’s sleeve. Howard brought Baskonia to +7 with two shots at 3:57, but Abbas’ three-pointer brought the match to 88-90. Miki equalized (90-90) with both teams leading the shots, Baskonia proving to be cooler and with the good defense of Moneke and the two accurate shots, escaped from Bologna with a score of 95-91.
The quarters: 22-21, 53-44, 74-75, 91-95
The match statistics
Source: Sport Fm
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