By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Legabasket Round 1 started the season in Italy’s top-tier division with a trip down the memory lane thanks to Treviso and David Logan Saturday and continued Sunday.
De’ Longhi Treviso Basket – Dolomiti Energia Trentino 84-80
Treviso got the home win behind 17 points by David Logan and 15 by DeWayne Russell while Matteo Imbro added 14 in just 18 minutes of action. Despite a 52-38 lead, Trento came back into the game with Logan making all the big plays down the stretch and sealing the deal with an assist and 3/4 free throws.
JaCorey Williams with 21 points and Gary Browne with 19 were the top scorers of the losing side.
Virtus Roma – Pompea Fortitudo Bologna 81-76
A 24-12 second period pumped Virtus Roma to the Round 1 victory versus Fortitudo Bologna. Dominating Dario Hunt banked 11 out of his 12 shots for a game-high 24 points, also pulled down nine rebounds.
Todd Withers and Matteo Fantinelli shared a team-high 16 points for the visitors.
Varese – Brescia 94-89
Luis Scola put on a 23-point, 11-rebound double-double as he led Varese to an overtime win against Brescia.
Nicolo De Vico added 14 points while Arturs Strautins logged a double-double as well with 12 points and ten boards. For Brescia, Andrew Crawford scored 19 in addition to TJ Cline’s 16 points.
Reggio Emilia – Olimpia Milano 71-87
Milano started off the Italian League strong Zach LeDay with 17 points while Shavon Shields and Luigi Datome added 14 each. Sergio Rodriguez scored three points but also dished nine assists.
Kevin Punter scored eight but had to exit the game due to a right thigh problem. For Reggiana, Joshua Bostic scored 17 points while Tomas Kyzlink helped with 14.
Trieste – Cremona 102-77
Myke Henry scored 24 points followed by Andrejs Grazulis with 18 and Davide Alviti with 15 points. Milton Doyle also added 15 points.
On the other side, TJ Williams banked 22 while Topias Palmi scored 13 and Daulton Hommes ten points.
Pesaro – Dinamo Sassari 85-95
Eimantas Bendizus scored 23 and with the help of Jason Burnell with 18 and Miro Bilan with 16 points led Sassari to a road win against Pesaro.
On the other side, Justin Robinson scored 15 while Frantz Massenat and Marko Filipovity added 13 points each.
Virtus Bologna – Cantu 84-65
Amedeo Tessitori and Awudu Abass scored 13 and 12 points as they led Virtus to a comfortable win over Cantu but what will be worrying the winning squad is the early exit of Milos Teodosic due to an injury.
Teodosic logged eight points without a miss as well as seven assists in ten minutes but had to be helped off the court.
“It is important to start the championship well. We came out of a week of good work, we started concentrated, determined, and the collective defense gave us this victory. Unfortunately, this episode happened with Teodosic, we will evaluate how it will be for the next games. Let’s move on, we focus on the first away match, with Lietkabelis – who won away from home today with Zalgiris – so a really tough game awaits us, we must be ready,” coach Aleksandar Djordjevic said after the match.
For Cantu, Jaime Smith and Sha’markus Kennedy scored 13 points each.
Venezia – Brindisi 75-67
Mitchell Watt scored 18 points on 7-9 from the field as Venezia closed Day 1 action in the Italian League. Austin Daye scored 14 and Stefano Tonut 13 points.
For Brindisi, Derek Willis scored 14 in addition to James Bell’s 12 points.