By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Valencia Basket was down by 21 in the second half but weathered the storm and prevailed over Virtus Bologna 97-96 on the road, in the game of the season so far between the two title contenders.
Virtus held on to a 46-25 lead in the beginning of the second quarter, with no reaction from the visitors, though everything changed from that point on and Valencia closed the gap at 57-45 by halftime. Back-to-back threes brought the visitors back in five-point reach towards the end of the third quarter, while Virtus held up to a 79-72 lead after 30 minutes.
It was Bojan Dubjlevic (10 points) who gave the lead to his for the first time with two minutes remaining and crunchtime turned into a thriller for both sides.
Klemen Prepelic emerged to pace Valencia with 20 points and 4 assists, Jasiel Riviero picked up 11 points and 8 rebounds, while veteran Sam Van Rossom also scored 15 points for Joan Penarroya’s squad that snapped back from consecutive defeats.
Kyle Weems led all Virtus scorers with 30 points and Milos Teodosic posted 18 points along with 9 assists, though his back-to-back misses from the three-point line in the final minutes of the game cost the victory for Sergio Scariolo’s men.
On to another thriller, it took ratiopharm Ulm two overtime periods but in the end, they managed to defeat Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana on the road 101-96.
Jason Blossomgame finished the game with 26 points (5-9 from the three-point line), 11 rebounds and a PIR of 35 in 45 minutes. Semaj Christon added up 24 points and 9 assists for the Germans and Cristiano Felicio also posted a double-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds.
Veteran Jaka Blazic added 26 points for Cedevita, which also got 21 points by Edo Muric and 20 points by Jacob Pullen.
Promitheas outlasted Bursaspor in overtime with an 83-80 win to register their first victory after four rounds. Jerai Grant led the Greek side with 18 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, while Nikos Rogkavopoulos posted 14 points and 9 rebounds and Charis Giannopoulos also added 14.
Allerik Freeman and Derek Needham combined 39 points to lead Bursaspor (20 and 19 respectively).
Gran Canaria led the first quarter against JL Bourg 21-3 and that set the tone for the rest of the game, as the French struggled and went down 78-49.
Dylan Ennis dropped 19 points and 7 rebounds for GranCa, Ilimane Diop had 11 points, while Chris Kramer and Artem Pustovyi shared 10 points apiece.
Erik Mika and Calvin Harris Jr. led struggling Bourg with just 7 points apiece.
Earlier this week, Umana Reyer Venice beat previously undefeated Buducnost at home, paced behind a 25-point performance by Mitchell Watt.
Standings:
| Group B | W | L | PTS+ | PTS- | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Gran Canaria | 3 | 1 | 330 | 298 | 32 |
| 2. Buducnost VOLI Podgorica | 3 | 1 | 310 | 303 | 7 |
| 3. Virtus Segafredo Bologna | 2 | 2 | 366 | 342 | 24 |
| 4. Valencia Basket | 2 | 2 | 348 | 339 | 9 |
| 5. Umana Reyer Venice | 2 | 2 | 283 | 275 | 8 |
| 6. Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana | 2 | 2 | 325 | 320 | 5 |
| 7. Frutti Extra Bursaspor | 2 | 2 | 314 | 315 | -1 |
| 8. ratiopharm Ulm | 2 | 2 | 302 | 320 | -18 |
| 9. Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse | 1 | 3 | 282 | 304 | -22 |
| 10. Promitheas Patras | 1 | 3 | 293 | 337 | -44 |
Round 5 matchups:
Virtus Segafredo Bologna – Umana Reyer Venice
Frutti Extra Bursaspor – Gran Canaria
Buducnost Voli Podgorica – Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana
Ratiopharm Ulm – Promitheas Patras
Valencia Basket – Mincidelice JL Bourg En Bresse
Photo: EuroCup