By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
It’s good to have sportsmanship spirit on the court, however both EA7 Emporio Armani Milano and Dogus Darussafaka were ready to gift the win to their opponent. In the end the Italians prevailed by one point (81-80) and a sloppy finish.
With the two teams staying close from wire to wire and Milano having a small lead – 46-41 at half time, 60-58 at the third – the fourth quarter ended being dominated by runs and a crazy finale.
Mantas Kalnietis with a three gave to Milano a five points lead (66-61), Scotty Wilbekin tied the score (66-66), the guests followed with a 7-0 run which was completed by a Milan Macvan three (73-66) and the hosts answer was a 10-0 run that gave them a three points lead (76-73) with less than two minutes on the clock.
Guess what happened then… Milano got a free throw by Rakim Sanders and then a big three by Kalnietis to regain the lead (77-76) after a turnover by James Anderson and 48 seconds left on the clock. Anderson missed a three, Jamel McLean got two more free throws to make it a 6-0 run (79-76) for Milano, but Andrien Moerman gave hope to the hosts with a big bucket (79-78) just 24 seconds before the final buzzer.
Krunoslav Simon with two free throws made it again a three points game (81-78) after two missed free throws by his teammate Kalnietis and a more than crucial offensive board by Sanders. With 9.9 seconds on the clock, Darussafaka had the ball and Alessandro Gentile got the steal over Bradley Wanamaker. He could close the game, but he missed both his free throws! Wanamaker got the rebound, he was fouled with 2 seconds left and made it again a one point game (81-80) from the charity line. Still with Milano having the ball nothing could change and the Italians got the big road win, despite flirting with disaster.
Milan Macvan had a great game with 19 points, 3/3 threes and 6 rebounds, Kalnietis and MacLean scored 11 points each and Alessandro Gentile added 10 points and 4 steals. Miroslav Raduljica (photo) with 6 points and 5 rebounds was also positive. For the home side, Moerman scored 20 points, Wanamaker had 16 and Anderson 14, but it was not enough.