By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Dinamo Sassari made a big comeback in the second half, however, they couldn’t complete it and San Pablo Burgos held on for an 84-81 road win.
Interestingly, Burgos is the only squad to grab a win on the road in the first games of Basketball Champions League Round of 16. The other seven clashes ended in favor of the home teams.
Vitor Benite was, without a doubt, the man of the match with 30 points on 10-14 shooting including 7-10 from deep. Earl Clark helped with 16 and Ferran Bassas with 12 points.
For Sassari, Marco Sipssu scored 17 while Dwayne Evans and Miro Bilan added 15 points each. Dyshawn Pierre had five points but grabbed 11 rebounds as well.
Benite was on fire from the very start. He banked five of Burgos’ ten threes in the first half, scored 18 points and pushed the Spaniards to a 51-36 lead at the break.
However, you simply never count Dinamo Sassari out. Especially not that early. The Italians bounced back to erase the deficit and take over the lead (65-61) late in the third quarter.
Although they found themselves down 78-71, the hosts made it a one-possession game (82-81). Clark scored a two for Burgos with 16 seconds left while in the following play, Sassari had trouble finding the right shot and it ended with Pierre falling short.
Happy despite a loss
Sassari coach Gianmarco Pozzecco thinks his players were just ‘rusty’ due to not playing recently and he is happy that they showed character in the second half:
“Burgos played really good, especially in the first half. We didn’t play for 18 days, so we didn’t start so well. We played really tough in the third and the fourth quarter. I’m happy. I’m despite the loss because we had a reaction and I saw a completely different team than in the first half.”
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League