Montepaschi Siena and Caja Laboral win: Euroleague Basketball Roundup October 19 Review – Part 1
Four games took place in Turkish Airlines Euroleague on Wednesday, October 19, 2011. Here is a brief review of these games:
Montepaschi Siena 79 – Unics 71
Montepaschi Siena rallied from an early double-digit deficit to edge past the Unics 79-71 in the first game of the season for both teams.
Bo McCalebb led Montepaschi with 17 points and four assists. Rimantas Kaukenas had 14 points, five rebounds and four steals while David Andersen added 13 points and five rebounds.
Unics’ guard Henry Domercant scored a Euroleague career-high 30 points - the most points of either team - but it was not enough to push Siena to a win. Nathan Jawai also chipped in 11 points and pulled down nine rebounds.
Unics got off to a good start and held a 24-20 lead after first quarter. Montepaschi though made a comeback in the second quarter and trimmed their deficit to one at halftime.
Siena started to find their offensive groove in the third quarter. They outscored Unics 21-11 in that frame and went ahead by 64-55, going into the final frame. Montepaschi were never threatened after that.
Caja Laboral 69 - Fenerbahce Ulker 66
At Abdi Ipekci Arena in Istanbul, Caja Laboral drew first blood and that too on road with a 69-66 victory over Fenerbahce Ulker.
Mirza Teletovic led Laboral with a game-high 23 points and six rebounds; Milko Bjelica ended with 12 points and five rebounds; Kevin Seraphin had 10 points and six boards in his Turkish Airlines Euroleague debut while Pablo Prigioni
contributed seven assists and a game-high six steals.
Omer Onan led Fenerbahce with 16 points on 9 for 9 shooting from free throw line. James Gist and Roco Ukic also scored 10 points each for Ulker.
Ulker made a solid start and carried an 11-4 lead early in the first quarter, before Laboral retaliated to make it a three-point contest, 13-10. Omer Onan scored a lay-up and then hit a free throw to push Ulker’s lead to 16-10,
but Caja’s Kevin Seraphin responded with a dunk to trim the deficit to four.
However, Ulker posted four unanswered points in the last minute of the quarter to take a 20-12 lead into the second frame.
After a loose first 10 minutes on the offense, Laboral made a comeback in the second quarter, opening it on an 11-0 run to go ahead by 23-20 early.
Ulker however inched their way back and tied the game at 34 in the last minute of the first half. Gasper Vidmar scored a layup to give Ulker a lead again at 36 – 34.
Laboral started the second half with purpose and ended the third quarter with a 53-48 lead. The home team however refused to give up and with second remaining in the game; they made it a two point game. However, two missed scoring
opportunities in the clutch cost them the game.
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