By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
AX Armani Exchange Milan turned last week’s victory into a streak after taking down Valencia Basket at home with a 95-80 win in Round 19 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Milan improved to an 11-7 record and got its revenge from the Spanish club after losing their Round 7 clash in the first round.
“I’m very happy. We got the win, and we got the points difference, which is always very important, so we move on and get ready for the next one”, said Ettore Messina after the game.
The Milan side had the upper hand of the game right from the first period, while they expanded their lead to 54-36 at halftime, while three players had already reached double figures.
Gigi Datome matched his career-best in EuroLeague to lead Messina’s squad with 27 points and 6 rebounds. “They’re a good team, it was normal they couldn’t stay down so many points the whole game. But we stayed calm and kept on playing our game. We stepped up defensively because we were not at the level we needed to be and then we kept finding good shots”, he said.
Malcolm Delaney posted 17 points and Zach LeDay left the court with 15. Kevin Punter stepped up in the second half to end the game with 14 points.
Valencia reacted in the fourth period where they trimmed the deficit to 7 points with a 9-0 run, though they couldn’t close the gap in the end. Derrick Williams led the Spanish team with 17 points, Nikola Kalinic scored 15 points while Klemen Prepelic added 12 points.
Valencia slipped its third game in a row and falls to a 10-9 record and will look to recover when they host Crvena Zvezda on Friday. Milano will look to keep up their streak when they face ALBA Berlin on the road this Thursday.
Photo: Getty Images