EA7 Emporio Armani beat Belgacom Spirou 81-79: Snap two-game losing streak – Euroleague Recap Part-2
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan and Belgacom Spirou maintained a steady scoring pace for the next couple of minutes and tied the game at 25-25 early in the second quarter. Jiri Welsch broke the ice when he hit a jumper, while Demond Mallet
and Gallinari made free throws to give the Belgacom a 29-27 lead.
Drew Nicholas broke Armani’s poor-shooting streak with a shot from downtown as Milan regained the lead, 30-29. The rest of the second period belonged to the hosts as Tornike Shengelia and Caleb Green started dominating on the offense.
Shengelia hit a pair of free throws and scored a lay-up in the blink of an eye. Green then followed him with another superb shot to make it 34-30 at halftime.
Ioannis Bourousis and Shengelia scored buckets immediately after the break to put EA7 Emporio ahead once more, 37-36. Mallet however again turned the advantage over to Belgacom at 42-41 lead.
Antonis Fotsis, who led Emporio Armani with 19 points and four rebounds on the night, knocked down a three-pointer, however it was followed by Christophe Beghin’s jumper, which levelled the game at 44-44.
Gallinari then hit a shot from two-point range and Oveneke downed a three-pointer to make it 49-44 for Spirou.
Andre Riddick grabbed a missed lay-up and drove to the rim to give Spirou their biggest lead of the game but Drew Nicholas followed it with a three-pointer. Demond Mallet responded with a lay-up to make it 56-50 for Belgacom. Malik
Hairston however closed the third period on an off-balance shot off the drive to cut Spirou’s lead to five, 58-53, after 30 minutes of action.
Mallet opened the last quarter with a three point play, which stretched Spirou’s lead to 61-53. Jacopo Giachetti then knocked down a rainbow triple to keep Armani within striking distance. Hairston followed with a pair of free
throws and Fotsis nailed a shot from downtown to tie the game at 61.
The surge didn’t end there. Fotsis dunked to put Armani ahead by two but Belgacom racked up the next five points of the quarter for a 66-63 edge. Spirou held Armani to just two points in the next couple of minutes and stayed up
by 72-68.
Nicholas buried a three-pointer with 1:30 to go in the last quarter and levelled the score at 74 for good. Danilo Gallinari soon shined to give Emporio a 79-74 lead. Green dunked with 10 seconds but Armani’s lead was too much to
overcome.
“We played 38 good minutes, with a good execution, but it is not enough and some mistakes in the end gave the win to Milan. We learn from defeats and we must work harder in practice, our free throws for instance,” Belgacom Spirou’s
guard Demond Mallet said of their sloppy basketball in the closing minutes.
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