By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Virtus Bologna survived a late comeback by Group B leaders Gran Canaria to win their intense showdown 70-68 in Round 17 of the 7DAYS EuroCup regular season.
Newcomer Daniel Hackett provided firepower to the Italians with his best performance to date, scoring 14 points, along with 3 rebounds and 3 assists to lift Virtus to victory. Newly acquired Tornike Shengelia also showed his veteran leadership to add 11 points and 9 rebounds for the hosts, while Mam Jaiteh and Kyle Weems each scored 10 points.
GranCa fought back after being down by four points in the third quarter and managed to get a short-lived 57-55 lead after 35 minutes, though they couldn’t complete the sweep against their hosts.
Dylan Ennis posted a game-high with 19 points, 4 rebounds for GranCa, Aleksander Balcerowski followed with 12 points and John Shurna had 10.
Joventut Badalona completed their sweep over Slask Wroclaw at home with a 97-79 to clinch Group A and finish their regular season with a triumph (scheduled to play against suspended Lokomotiv in Round 18).
Albert Ventura emerged with a new season-high for Joventut, scoring 16 points to lead four more scorers in double figures. Simon Birgander stepped up with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Vladimir Brodziansky tapped 12 points, Ante Tomic added 11 and Joel Parra dropped 10 points and six rebounds for the Spanish team that improved to 12-4 and is headed to the playoffs with a tremendous team effort.
D’Mitrik Trice had a game-high with 22 points for Slask, Kerem Kanter posted 15 points and 7 rebounds, while Kodi Justice and Aleksander Dziewa had 11 points apiece.
Frutti Extra Bursaspor made club history with an 86-72 win over ratiopharm Ulm on the road, to clinch a playoffs ticket in a continental competition for the first time ever. Bursaspor won its fourth straight game, winning the tiebreaker against the Germans to improve to 8-9 to lock the 5th seed in Group B.
Kevarious Hayes was the man of the hour for Bursa while scoring a season-best 25 points to go along with 9 rebounds. David Dudzinski followed with 14 points, Derek Needham added 13, and Andrew Andrews tapped 11 points and 10 assists. Semaj Christon scored 20 points to lead Ulm, which has now lost five of its last six games to drop to 7-10.
Meanwhile in Group A, Boulogne Metropolitans 92 clinched homecourt advantage after taking down MoraBanc Andorra 83-74 on the road. Veteran guard Lahaou Konate posted a season-high performance with 19 points to lead Vincent Collet’s squad to a 10-5 record, Jordan McRae dropped 18 points, Will Cummings added 16 points, five rebounds and five assists and Vince Hunter had 12. Codi Miller-McIntyre scored 16 points along with 8 assists for Andorra, Moussa Diagne added 14 points, while Oriol Pauli and Clevin Hannah both tapped 10. Andorra has now lost its second straight game to drop to 9-6.
Photo credit: Virtus Bologna / Twitter