By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Trying to run away in the first quarter and confirming its offensive dominion late in the game, Virtus Bologna bounced back from the Italian derby loss against Milano by beating Baskonia 91-81 on the road. It’s the first defeat after three games for Dusko Ivanovic’s team, while the fourth straight win for the black-and-white Luca Banchi’s side.
Clutch with late three-pointers in the fourth quarter, Marco Belinelli gave Virtus Bologna the lead with 27 points, 6/9 from two points, and 4/8 from deep. At 37 years of age, the former San Antonio Spurs shooting guard keeps on surprising, marking his career-high in points scored in a EuroLeague game.
“I wanna thank Bryant Dunston who wasn’t feeling well yesterday and still played: we are a great team”, the Italian captain shared.
Isaia Cordinier also had a pretty good all-around game with 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists. “We played a very solid second half. We connected with rebound-battle and it’s a very important win to consolidate our position in the standings and our identity. We have such experienced guys who can lead the team”, Luca Banchi commented.
Coming back to the place where he emerged as one of the most dominant power forwards of the whole EuroLeague, Toko Shengelia ended with 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists against his former team. “It was a tough team, but we demonstrated our fighting spirit”, the Georgian former Baskonia player said after being named MVP of the game in the post-game flash interview.
As happened several times since the start of this season, Chima Moneke had another dominant performance to lead the Basque team, going close to a double-double with 14 points and 8 rebounds. Codi Miller-McIntyre went close to a triple-double with 10 points, 8 rebounds, and 13 assists. Maik-Kalev Kotsar, instead, tried to keep his team afloat with 13 points and 3 rebounds. “Our defense wasn’t ideal in the most important moments of the game”, Dusko Ivanovic said.
The Italian team began the Basque challenge in the Fernando Buesa Arena by running away to a 14-point lead (24-10) in the first quarter, dragged by Marco Belinelli’s pull-up and off-the-screen shots. However, Dusko Ivanovic’s team bounced back rapidly in the second quarter, getting their second lead (38-37) of the night with 2:38 minutes before going to the locker rooms. The first half ended with Baskonia leading 43-42.
In the third quarter, balance ruled in the Fernando Buesa Arena, both Virtus Bologna seemed to get the upper hand over Baskonia’s aggressivity, playing beautifully branded basketball for the three-point lead (63-60) with Awudu Abass’ dunk. With 3:11 on the clock in the last quarter, Daniel Hackett extended the lead to eight points (78-70). Baskonia didn’t score for more than four minutes, from 7:17 to 2:58 in the fourth quarter, and the Italian team took advantage of that for the final win.
In next week’s double-game action, Baskonia (8-6) will be away from home in both games, first against Maccabi Tel Aviv on December 19 at 20:05 CET and then in Istanbul at Anadolu Efes‘ home, on December 22 at 18:15 CET. Virtus Bologna (10-4), instead, will face Olympiacos at home on December 19 at 20:30 CET and then travel to Valencia two days later at the same time.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague