Umana Reyer Venezia defended their home court in an epic battle

By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net

Once again we had a chance to see how beautiful the game of basketball is. The Basketball Champions league derby between last season’s Final Four teams Umana Reyer Venezia and Banvit was more than dramatic and the Italian side won the game after 55 minutes of play!

After a great first half and a 44-28, it seemed like the home team will have no problems beating Banvit. Everything looked smooth for Venezia even in the third quarter.

Banvit players were persistent and didn’t  give up. They erased their deficit, tied the game and even led by 3 points when Marquez Haynes hit a three-point shot and got one free throw as he was fouled by Odum 2 seconds before the end.

Haynes missed the free throw with the game on the line so teams had to play five additional minutes, but one overtime period was not enough.

With 0,9 seconds left on the clock, Thomas had a four-point play for Banvit and forced a second overtime!

Both teams just refused to give up even in second overtime. They gave everything they had so the game went into, believe it or not, a third overtime. Banvit didn’t have enough power to fight in this period so the final result was 108-101 for Venezia.

The Key: In extra time, the home crowd gave energy to the Venezia as they were able to win the game.

The Star: Lithuanian power forward Gediminas Orelik was the best player in the game scoring 24 points and collecting 8 rebounds.

Photo Credits: FIBA

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