2001-02Regular SeasonRound 12
January 30, 2002 CET: 00:00
Local time: 00:00 BPA PALAS
Tau Ceramica completed a climb to the top of unpredictable Group D with a solid 75-85 road win at co-leader Scavolini Pesaro on Wednesday. The Spaniards couldn't have picked a better time to strike, as with the unexpected help of Oostende simultenously knocking off AEK in Belgium, Tau now sits atop their group at 8-4. Tau took command early and guarded double-digit leads through much of the game. Again, Tau did it without injured point guard Elmer Bennett. Another veteran, Chris Corchiani, stepped in and led the winners with 15 points and Charles Byrd came off the bench for 10 points in 9 minutes. They were balanced inside by Luis Scola and Dejan Tomasevic, who each had 13 and helped Tau dominate on rebounds, 22-37. Tau exploded on offense from the opening whistle and coupled their offensive power with an aggressive defense that held the home team without a single field goal the whole first period. Scavolini slowly found its footing and little by little nibbled away at Tau's lead behind Marko Tusek, who led all scorers with 18 points. They drew closest in the final five minutes before Tau could put the game out of reach. Scavolini now drops into a three-way tie for second place at 7-5 with AEK and either ASVEL or Ural Great, depending on tomorrow night's outcome between those two teams.

Scavolini started the game having difficulty with its usual plays because Tau knew its opponents' attacks perfectly. Tau chose to play slow but looked for good options although their shooting accuracy wasn't very good and after 4 minutes the score was only 1-4 for the guests. After 5:20 the home team still hadn't scored a basket, only three free throws. Despite a timeout called by coach Stefano Pillastrini, Tau's 3-10 run grew into a 5-14 lead. The Spanish team did appear to start having occasional trouble against the 3-2 zone proposed by the Italians in the last part of the period. The first quarter ended with the score 9-18 and without a basket (0 for 9 from the field) by the home team, whose only points came on 9 foul shots from the stripe.

The game took on a tougher tone at the start of the second quarter. Marko Tusek seemed to ring the wake-up bell for Scavolini, but Tau followed suit and continued to dominate underneath. Tau's first two defensive mistakes of the match produced a full 180-degree momentum swing as long-distance shots by Brad Traina and Misha Beric brought Scavolini to within six, 21-27, midway through the period. Beric appealed to the fans for noise and the subsequent yelling and singing made the arena come alive! Scavolini's zone closed well on the Spanish shooters but suffered in the paint against Luis Scola and Dejan Tomasevic, who single-handedly increased the lead to 25-35 with two minutes to go. The teams went to the locker rooms with 33-47 on the scoreboard. Tusek's 11 points led all scorers while Tomasevic and Andres Nocioni both posted 10 for Tau Ceramica.

The third period was played nervously as both defenses became more physical and baskets harder to come by in the first five minutes. Finally, a three-pointer by Corchiani gave a 15-point lead to the Spaniards, 41-56, after 26 minutes. Melvin Booker answered with five straight points and Andrea Pecile had two steals to cut the difference to 47-56, again causing BPA Palace to erupt. With Corchiani off the curt with four fouls, Tau's offense began to struggle, but three-pointers by Byrd and Pecile brought the quarter to a close at 54-63.

Scavolini used all its weapons and pride to come back in the last period. Pecile transmitted his hustle and desire to win to all his teammates as he bagged three-pointers to bring his team within seven, at 62-69. But Byrd immediately countered with his own long-distance shot as the shot clock expired and an easy lay up after a steal. In the final three minutes, Tau put the game on ice as Corchiani made several free-throws that helped seal the victory.
Wednesday, January 30, 2002
Romano Petitti, Pesaro
No results found.
Referees: WARNICK, TODD; MUHVIC, DUBRAVKO; ZIEMBLICKI, GRZEGORZ
Attendance: 5320
By Quarter1234
Scavolini Pesaro9242121
Tau Ceramica18291622
End of Quarter1234
Scavolini Pesaro9335475
Tau Ceramica18476385
Scavolini Pesaro
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 BERIC, MIROSLAV 36:00 16 0/1 3/4 7/8       3 2 3     3 9 21
5 BOOKER, MELVIN 37:00 11 2/2 1/4 4/7   2 2 2 1 4     4 7 9
7 JOHNSON, DEMARCO 32:00 12 5/12 0/1 2/4 1 7 8 1 3 4     4 5 11
8 GIGENA, SILVIO 9:00     0/2             1         -3
10 MIDDLETON, LARRY 8:00     0/3     1 1   1 1     5   -7
11 PECILE, ANDREA 18:00 10 0/1 2/3 4/6 1   1   3       5 5 10
12 TRAINA, BRADLEY 12:00 6 0/1 2/3     1 1     1     1   3
13 TUSEK, MARKO 27:00 18 4/5 2/4 4/4   5 5   1 1       2 22
14 MAGGIOLI, MICHELE 21:00 2 1/1     1 1 2   2   2   4   4
Team             2 2   5           7
Totals 200:00 75 12/23 10/24 21/29 3 19 22 6 18 15 2 0 26 28 77
        52.2% 41.7% 72.4%
Head coach: PILLASTRINI, STEFANO
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Tau Ceramica
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 SCOLA, LUIS 21:00 13 5/8   3/4 3 6 9   2 3   1 3 4 17
5 NOCIONI, ANDRES 18:00 12 3/5 2/5     1 1   1     1 2 3 9
7 FOIREST, LAURENT 26:00 8 2/3 1/4 1/2   4 4   1 1     4 3 6
9 VIDAL, SERGI 16:00 1 0/1 0/1 1/2         1       3 3 -1
11 SCONOCHINI, HUGO 20:00 5 2/4 0/1 1/2 1 1 2 1 2 5     3 1 -1
12 TOMASEVIC, DEJAN 38:00 13 5/6   3/6 2 8 10 1   2     2 5 21
14 OBERTO, FABRICIO 21:00 8 4/5       6 6 2   4     5 1 7
15 CORCHIANI, CHRIS 31:00 15 1/1 2/3 7/9 1 2 3   3 2     4 6 18
16 BYRD, CHARLES 9:00 10 2/3 2/2           1 1     2   7
Team           2   2   5           7
Totals 200:00 85 24/36 7/16 16/25 9 28 37 4 16 18 0 2 28 26 90
        66.7% 43.8% 64%
Head coach: IVANOVIC, DUSKO
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

PILLASTRINI, STEFANO
Scavolini Pesaro
"We had a bad start and they played a tough defense in the first half and we just fed ourselves on free throws. We knew that they are a strong team under the hoops and we played a bad defense in the paint. We had a good reaction and played with aggressivity but all our mistakes led us to the defeat. A fast-break missed by DeMarco after stealing the ball and an offensive rebound by Corchiani. They also killed us at rebounding, they are solid but we grabbed just three offensive rebounds and it's not enough to beat Tau. They pulled 28 boards in defense and probably three or four more offesnive boards than the other team means victory".
IVANOVIC, DUSKO
Tau Ceramica
"It was an important game to win especially for the standings. We had a tough preparation for the game especially on defense, and we played an excellent defense in the first half. We spent some fouls at the beginning on Beric, neutralized Booker and closed the paint. Our experience was decisive on offense to find always open shots. Corchiani proved to be an excellent starter but also during the last games and the past season when he came off the bench he had shown it. My personal opinion is that to win you must play a great defense, otherwise you have few possibilities to obtain a victory at this level".

Players

PECILE, ANDREA
Scavolini Pesaro
"We started badly and that's a thing to improve surely for the remaining two games. Our main problem has been the low intensity on defense and generally speaking, our lack of concentration, especially on offense. I think that Corchiani was the MVP of the game, but they also were solid under the boards".
CORCHIANI, CHRIS
Tau Ceramica
"We won the game due to our intensity and the heart we put on the court from the beginning. I was afraid of Scavolini's long distance shots, and thanks to their poor percentages we won the game. I'm very fond of our first place in the standings but I think that qualifying for the Top 16 is already a great goal".
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