Gianluca Basile beats the buzzer with a 3 as Bennet Cantu edge Gescrap BB 67-64 – Euroleague Recap
The Group A of the 2011 Turkish Airlines Euroleague has been the most fiercely fought so far. With all the teams still in with a chance to make it to the top-16 round, Wednesday’s game between Bennet Cantu and Gescrap BB held great
significance.
On the night, it was a story of the two halves and a buzzer beating three point missile.
Cantu, entering the game with a 4-3 record, dominated early and were leading by as many as eight points midway through the quarter before the hosts turned it on and close out the first quarter only trailing by 14-17.
A 7-2 run at the start of the second quarter made it 24-16 for Cantu and a layup by Denis Marconato, midway through the frame pushed the advantage into the double figures (28-18). The teams slugged it out in the next couple of
minutes before Cantu capped the first half with an 8-3 run to carve out a 40-27 lead.
The second half spelled the start of a Gescrap fight back.
The hosts started off with a 9 point unanswered spurt to pull within four and then fought off a 7-0 burst late in the frame to finish the third quarter trailing by only 7, 47-54.
Gescrap carried their momentum into the fourth quarter and raced away to an 8-0 surge in the first five minutes to close in at 57-58. However, their push was immediately countered by a three from Nicolas Mazzarino.
Seconds later though, D'OR Fischer slipped in a layup to make it a two point game.
A cold shooting display from both the teams followed as pressure started to mount. Janis Blums managed 1 of 2 free throws with nearly two minutes to go, before Marko Banic made a layup in the last minute to give Gescrap a one point
lead (62-61).
Giorgi Shermadini dunked seconds later and then followed with a free throw to again hand Cantu the advantage, but when Kostas Vasiliadis made a jumper with 2.9 seconds to go, it seemed that the game will be heading to overtime.
Gianluca Basile had other ideas though.
Riding on his luck, Basile launched a trey that miraculously found the inside of the rim and gave Cantu the all important win.
Vladimir Micov erupted with 13 points in the first half to lead the charge for Cantu. Giorgi Shermadini scored 11 points and grabbed 5 rebounds while Maarten Leunen had 10. Gescrap BB were led Marko Banic’s 16 points.
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