By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Trent Forrest earned his stripes by scoring 22 points and leading Baskonia to the 88-83 win over Milan which remains at the bottom of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings at 1-5, while the winners have a solid 4-2 start being unbeaten at home.
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot added 16 points, including two key free throws in the closing seconds, Chima Moneke had 11 points and Kamar Baldwin added 10. Markus Howard had nine points on 3/7 threes.
“It was very important that we stayed in the game, we stayed focused even if Milan did a great job on Howard”, added coach Pablo Laso and elaborated: “If they want to stop Markus and we can get the win, it’s fine. I don’t want Markus to score, I want Baskonia to win”.
Nikola Mirotic scored 21 points but couldn’t save the day in the end for Milan, Armoni Brooks added 17 and Neno Dimitrievic had 15. Josh Nebo returned to action with eight points and six rebounds but the team missed injured Shavon Shields.
Milan was coached by Mario Fioretti, as coach Ettore Messina stayed in Italy due to illness.
At the last minute
Milan finished the first period up by one (21-20) and that was a sign of things to come. While Baskonia scored 32 points in the second period and took a 52-45 halftime lead, Milan didn’t back down.
At the end of the third period, the Italians had trimmed the lead of Baskonia to four points (67-63), and with five minutes left, the score was tied at 77 after a three by Armoni Brooks.
With the game on the line, Forrest scored for the 84-80 with two minutes left and Brooks again with one more three after a missed shot by Mirotic and a block by Josh Nebo, making it a one-point game (84-83).
Forrest scored again (86-83), Leandro Bolmaro missed and Baskonia had the ball and the lead with 43 seconds left. In the next possession, it was Forrest’s turn to miss, and Nebo was fouled with 17 seconds on the clock.
Mirotic got the ball but missed a contested three. Luwawu-Cabarrot was fouled, made the two free throws and the game was over.
Photo credit: EuroLeague