By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Falling one point short of his best scoring showing across all competitions in the 2023-24 campaign, Marco Belinelli fueled an overtime win, 103-89, for Virtus Segafredo Bologna over Umana Reyer Venice on Friday.
Connecting 7/9 triples, the season MVP of Italy’s LBA UnipolSai finished with 26 points in Game 1 of the Semifinals series.
Despite mishandling a 20-point advantage in the second half of the Playoffs contest, mostly due to an 18-0 run by the visitors in the third quarter, Luca Banchi’s side went up 1-0 in the best-of-five series after five additional minutes.
Awudu Abass chipped in 13 points. Tornike Shengelia and Daniel Hackett had 11 points each. Besides Gabriel Iffe Lundberg (knee) and Devontae Cacok (knee) remaining on the injury list, Rihards Lomazs was sidelined as well.
An impressive comeback was not enough for Venice in Segafredo Arena. Former Vu Nere players, Amedeo Tessitori and Marco Spissu finished with 20 and 19 points, respectively. Mfiondu Kabengele was out for the team coached by Neven Spahija.
LBA Playoffs
Quarterfinals (best-of-five)
A – Virtus Segafredo Bologna – Bertram Derthona Tortona 3-2 (92-80, 83-77, 81-91, 75-82, 92-63)
B – Umana Reyer Venice – UnaHotels Reggio Emilia 3-2 (74-82, 83-75, 66-78, 95-92, 83-67)
C – EA7 Emporio Armani Milan – Dolomiti Energia Trento 3-1 (84-85, 104-93, 83-68, 87-69)
D – Germani Brescia – Estra Pistoia 3-0 (79-70, 97-75, 98-77)
Semifinals (best-of-five)
Virtus Segafredo Bologna – Umana Reyer Venice 1-0 (103-89)
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan – Germani Brescia 0-0
Finals (best-of-five)
Winners of Semifinals
Photo Credit: EuroleagueBasketball.net