By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
With 35 seconds remaining in overtime between Gran Canaria and Olimpia Milano, Vladimir Micov (24 points) drained a 3-pointer that put the Italian side up by five, 98 – 103.
Eulis Baez answered on the other end but Milano remained up. Marcus Eriksson, who had forced the extra period with an off-balance triple, missed a game-winning attempt and Milano ultimately beat their opponents 104-106 and grabbed a potentially key win in their pursue for a playoffs spot.
It was a hard-earned victory for Milano that faced some serious setbacks in the game. The most serious of those being the injury of Arturas Gudaitis in the first half that forced him to sit out the remainder of the match.
“I think that my players’ pride was the key to the game. We were in shock due to many problems that you could see, to see their teammate – Arturas Gudaitis, injured during the game – in the locker room like that, all our game plan had to change. We played without a big man for a big part of the second half, and also overtime, but we recovered and stayed together again,” Milano head coach Simone Pianigiani said. Christian Burns was also injured by hurting his ankle after playing less than three minutes.
Mike James (22 points, six assists, five rebounds) was also fouled out with 5:20 remaining and the score 75 – 81. Milano had come back from a 9-point deficit to lead entering the final stretch of regulation thanks also to James Nunnally who had EuroLeague comeback with 22 points. Gran Canaria had been the one to accomplish a turnaround from 11 points down, thanks to Eriksson (career-high 28 points).