2001-02Regular SeasonRound 2
October 17, 2001 CET: 20:30
Local time: 20:30 BPA PALAS

A crowd of 5,215 spectators in Pesaro, Italy ended up cheering the first Euroleague victory of Scavolini versus one of the hottest teams in Europe, Cibona Zagreb, by 88-75 on Wednesday in a Group D battle. As such, Scavolini erases the memory of its loss on opening day by dominating the team that had beaten the best four teams from last season - Kinder Bologna, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Tau Cerámica and Panathinaikos - in the last three weeks. The main contributors for the winners were Miroslav Beric, with 23 points, Joseph Blair, with 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Melvin Booker with 19 points. Reggie Freeman posted 15 points for the losers, as did Calvin Bowman and Marjan Mance. Both teams are now at 1-1, as are four other teams in Group D.

What happened to the dominator of the Euroleague Opening Tournament and overtime winner against Tau Vitoria in the season opener? Scavolini Pesaro flattened them with an incredible first period, a 16-2 run in less than five minutes that featured defense, fastbreaks and a dunk by Melvin Booker to close it. Cibona's first field goal came after six minutes, by Marijan Mance, but Croatian team's bad form was also evident at the defensive end, too, as it allowed Scavolini to a 30-12 lead at the end of the first period. Nothing changed in the second period. For Scavolini, it was a little bit difficult to mantain concentration, but a Beric-to-Blair alleyoop woke everybody up again, especially. Cibona woke up, too, putting together a 4-13 run that cut the devicit to 42-31 with a minute to go. But a third three-pointer by Beric on a missed defensive switch allowed Scavolini to end the first half ahead 47-31 and walk off the floor to a standing ovation

The third period started with two free throws scored by Beric for a tecnichal foul called against Cibona during halftime. The game went slowly until another alley-oop slammed again by Blair and more outside sniping by Beric indicated that Cibona could not find a way to stop the Italian ballers. An ineffective 2-3 zone invited yet another three-pointer from Beric and the period ended with Pesaro ahead 71-54. A 0-9 run that bridged the final two periods wasn't even enough for Cibona to threaten a comeback from huge game-long deficits. The visitors were still down 13, then a Blair fastbreak lay-up and a Larry Middleton three-pointer signalled the beginning of the end.

Wednesday, October 17, 2001
R.P., Euroleague.net
No results found.
Referees: SANCHA, EDUARDO; ZAVLANOS, NIKOLAOS; VALTCHEV, GEORGY
Attendance: 5215
By Quarter1234
Scavolini Pesaro30172417
Cibona VIP12192321
End of Quarter1234
Scavolini Pesaro30477188
Cibona VIP12315475
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 29:00 23 2/2 4/9 7/10 1   1 2 3 3     4 8 22
5 BOOKER, MELVIN 38:00 19 5/10 2/4 3/4   1 1 6 4 1     2 5 24
8 GIGENA, SILVIO 11:00 4 2/5 0/2   3 1 4   1     1 4 1  
9 ZANELLI, FABIO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 MIDDLETON, LARRY 25:00 6 0/1 2/6     3 3           4    
12 TRAINA, BRADLEY 28:00 5 1/2 1/4     4 4   1 4     4 1 -1
13 TUSEK, MARKO 23:00 10 3/4 0/1 4/8 2 3 5 1 1 1     4 4 10
14 MAGGIOLI, MICHELE 15:00   0/1       1 1           3   -3
15 BLAIR, JOSEPH 31:00 21 9/14   3/3 4 11 15   1       4 3 31
16 PANICHI, MATTEO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team                                
Totals 200:00 88 22/39 9/26 17/25 10 24 34 9 11 9 0 1 29 22 83
        56.4% 34.6% 68%
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
Cibona VIP
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 LONGIN, BRANIMIR 13:00 3   0/1 3/4 2 3 5     1       2 7
5 KUS, DAVOR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 KRASIC, BARISA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 PRKACIN, NIKOLA 33:00 7 1/7 0/2 5/6   3 3 4 2 4 1   3 3 4
9 BOWMAN, CALVIN 26:00 15 6/11   3/10 1 5 6     2     3 6 10
10 PLANINIC, ZORAN 19:00 9 2/4 0/1 5/6 1 1 2 2 3       5 4 11
12 MANCE, MARIJAN 30:00 15 4/9 2/4 1/2 1 2 3 3 2 2     4 1 10
14 FREEMAN, REGGIE 33:00 15 4/7 0/6 7/8 3 6 9 2 1       2 8 23
15 DZIDIC, BORIS 29:00 7   1/3 4/6 1 3 4     3     4 3 3
17 OKUNSKYY, ALEKSANDAR 17:00 4 2/2     1 2 3           1 2 8
Team                                
Totals 200:00 75 19/40 3/17 28/42 10 25 35 11 8 12 1 0 22 29 76
        47.5% 17.6% 66.7%
Head coach: SPAHIJA, NEVEN
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

PILLASTRINI, STEFANO
Scavolini Pesaro
"We made progress day by day, and tonight we played more consistent and found excellent ways to finish the fastbreak. We are the first team to beat Cibona in Europe this season. Cibona is a great team and we are happy for this achievement. We have also played a good defense and probably if we had kept our concentration until the end of the game, specifically boxing out better, we probably could have had a bigger winning margin."
SPAHIJA, NEVEN
Cibona VIP
"Please don¹t ask me why we have played so badly. I don¹t knwo why and probably you have to explain it to me! I don¹t know what exactly happened, I want to look forward an put this game in the file. I think it¹s the better thing to do in this moment. I¹ve been here in Pesaro for two days and I heard some criticisms about Miroslav Beric. He is a great player and tonight he showed it to all the world. Thisis a balanced group and every game will be tough and I think that the favourite team to win the group is Tau Vitoria."
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