By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
“I am proud of my players, it was unbelievable”. Coach Israel Gonzalez said this after the final buzzer and nobody can argue.
ALBA Berlin somehow got the 105-101 overtime win, their second in the season (2-7), over EA7 Emporio Armani Milan which unexpectedly dropped to 3-6.
Gabriele Procida scored 29 points, Trevion Williams had 23 and Jonas Mattisseck added a career-high 21 points.
It was almost expected due to the conditions of the game.
ALBA Berlin fielded only 10 players for the game, including Matteo Spagnolo who scored 20 points after missing the previous game, plus Dorian Grosber, Anton Nufer, and Amon Doerries from the junior team, all three born in 2006.
Martin Hermannsson, Will McDowell-White, Malte Delow, Justin Bean, Yanni Wetzell, and Matt Thomas were out due to injury, while Khalifa Koumadje has been suspended by the club until further notice.
Zach LeDay with 23 points and Nikola Mirotic with 28 couldn’t save the day for Milan.
A miracle ending
Milan also has its own injury woes, missing the injured trio of Shavon Shields, Ousmane Diop, and Josh Nebo, but this can’t be an excuse. The Italians never trailed in the game until overtime.
ALBA managed to keep things close in the first period and was down just by four points (23-19). However, Milan was up by 12 (55-43) at halftime and by eight at the end of the third (77-69).
Everything changed in the last period. ALBA did make it a three-point game (83-80) after a shot by Mattiseck, Mirotic scored (85-80) but ALBA continued their push and finally tied the score at 92 with two free throws by Tim Schneider.
Mirotic missed his next shot, Spagnolo also couldn’t score at the buzzer, and ALBA finally got their first lead (94-92) at the start of overtime. The Germans led even by seven (103-96) and Milan couldn’t even tie the score again.
Photo credit: EA7 Emporio Armani Milan