Basket, Eurocup: Virtus Bologna and Venice win the first. European Cup, Reggio Emilia falls in Russia
ROME – Good debut of Eurocup for Virtus Bologna and for Venice while Reggio Emilia falls in Russia against Saratov in the Europe Cup. This is the outcome of the matches that saw the three Italians involved in Europe. Virts and Venezia easily won away against Bursaspor (83-101) and Bourg en Bresse (62-73) while Caja’s team succumbed in the final (91-84) to Saratov to whom they left the top of the standings in the own group.
BURSASPOR-VIRTUS BOLOGNA 83-101
(21-31, 48-57, 66-81)
Virtus Bologna got off to a good start in Eurocup by overwhelming Bursaspor in Turkey. Despite the many absences (Mannion and Teodosic above all), the black Vs proved to be in another category, digging a furrow already in the first period in which they also touched the 31 points advantage. In the end, the Bolognese closed with stratospheric percentages (65% from two and a good 64% from 3) bringing 7 men in double figures. The best were Harvey (18 points), Belinelli (15) and Alibegovic (14). But Pajola also deserves to be underlined, with 10 points and 7 assists. Among the hosts, the only one to save was Freeman, who scored 15 points.
Bursaspor: Sezgun ne, Freeman 15, Ozalp ne, Needham 6, Turen 2, Al 14, Bitim 11, Andrews 3, Hayes 7, Guven 12, Dudzinski 13, Selcuk. All. Alimpjevic.
Virtus: Tessitori 11, Cordinier 12, Belinelli 15, Pajola 10 (7 assists), Alibegovic 14, Hervey 18, Ruzzier, Alexander 4, Ceron, Sampson 11, Weems 6. All. Scariolo.
BOURG EN BRESSE – VENICE 62-73
(14-18, 26-34, 44-55)
In the other match of the group Venezia, the satisfaction of redeeming the heavy double defeat, collected by Bourg en Bresse last season, also at Taliercio. In France he dominated from start to finish keeping his rivals at a safe distance (up to 14 points) throughout the match. Devastating Watt, who finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, but also Tonut (14 points and 5 assists) and Daye (13 points) did well. In Bourg en Bresse the best was Sulaimon who finished with just 11 points.
Bourg en Bresse: Sulaimon 11, Chassang 7, Benitez 6, Cosse ne, Mika 8, Pelos 10, Dalton 8, Williams 2, Roos 5, Falcoz ne, Julien 5. All. Timber.
Venice: Stone 3, Tonut 14, Daye 13, De Nicolao, Sanders 6, Phillip 6, Charalampopoulos, Mazzola 10, Brooks 2, Cerella ne, Vitali 3, Watt 16. All. De Raffaele.
AVTODOR SARATOV – REGGIO EMILIA 91-84
(23-18, 39-39, 61-62)
Reggio Emilia plays evenly for 35 ‘against Avtodor Saratov, but in the end gives way, pierced by 5 triples in a row placed by the Russians and the difficulty of replicating. The game was basically balanced, with Caja’s team deceiving themselves by reaching +7 in the third quarter. Reggio did not, however, deal with the accuracy of Sakic and Chery (21 points each), assisted by an excellent Scrubb (16 points). For Diouf and his teammates, Strautins ’18 points (and 8 rebounds) and Olisevicius’ 15 were not enough. Cinciarini’s performance was also good, with 7 points and 9 assists as a reference.
Avtodor: Funderburk 9, Phranauskis, Sakic 21, Chery 21, Petenev ne, Minchenko ne, Kvitkokikh 2, Kolesnikov, Scrubb 16, Sergeev, Jarret 12, Johnson 10. All. Kojkovic.
Reggio Emilia: Thompson 7, Hopkins 9, Candi 7, Baldi Rossi 2, Strautins 18, Crawford 11, Colombo ne, Cinciarini 7, Johnson 5, Olisevicius 15, Bonacini ne, Diouf 3. Att. Caja.