Montepaschi Siena overpower Asseco Prokom 84-73 -Euroleague Recap
Montepaschi Siena’s impressive run in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague 2011 continues.
Using home court advantage to perfection, they collected their 4th win of the tournament last night by overpowering Asseco Prokom 84-73 to improve their overall record to 4-1. Asseco on the other hand, have failed to
grab a single victory so far and after this loss, their chances to reach the top 16 have deteriorated further.
Prokom put up a good fight in the first half and did not let Montepaschi run away with the show completely, however in the third quarter decided the fate of game. Prokom allowed easy points to Siena and also failed to find baskets
at crucial times as Siena’s lead mounted to 14 points by the end of the quarter. Prokom never managed to recover from it and lost in the end.
Rimantas Kaukenas led the winning team with 15 points on 3 for 4 effort from the paint and 3 for 3 from the downtown along with 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Bo McCalebb was also on song and added another 14, including 5 for 7 from
the free throw line. David Andersen missed a double-double by a whisker, ending with 10 points and 9 l rebounds.
The most outstanding player of the game, Donatas Motiejunas, was however from the losing side. He scored game high 26 points and pulled 9 rebounds and was assisted well by Mr. Consistent, Oliver Lafayette, who put up an all round
performance scoring 16 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists. Przemyslaw Zamojski (11) was the only other player who finished with scores in double figures for Asseco.
Piotr Szczotka started the proceedings through a driving layup in the first minute; however it was countered by a three from McCalebb. Donatas then drilled another 8 meter bomb to provide Asseco an early 5-3 lead. In the ensuing
passage, the scores got leveled at 7, but then two back to back downtown strikes by Prokom levitated their lead to 6 points 13-7.
Siena then countered with two three’s of their own followed by driving layups in the later part of the quarter to ensure they entered the second quarter with a 1 point lead 16-15.
The first 4 minutes of second quarter saw fireworks from both teams and scores got leveled again at 23-23. Oliver scored a three-pointer to temporarily get Asseco ahead but Pietro’s three in the 9th minute and then a
free throw in the last seconds restored Montepaschi’s lead at 32-31.
Siena broke the game in the third quarter as they managed to reel off a 16-2 run in the first five minutes. Donatas tried hard to get Prokom close, but he was raging a lone battle. Siena entered the last quarter ahead by 65-51
and despite of a 12-2 spurt by Asseco late in the piece, they were never threatened.
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