Montepaschi Siena roars after halftime in Poland!
Montepaschi Siena nailed eight three-pointers in a monster third quarter in beating Asseco Prokom Gdynia 101-66 on the road for a huge victory in Group B of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. Siena out-scored Prokom 37-12 in the third quarter to blow the game wide open and improve to 2-3 while Prokom dropped to 1-4. A week after tallying 34 points and a 43 performance index rating as bwin MVP for Week 4, Siena guard Bobby Brown had 25 points, 7 assists and a 31 rating, nailing 6 of 9 triples against Prokom. All told, Siena made 19 of 34 shots from long range and 18 of 20 free throws. Matthew Janning and David Moss both made 4 three-pointers in scoring 16 points while Kristjan Kangur added 12 points and Tomas Ress and David Hackett each scored 10 points. Prokom, which made just 16 of 29 free throws, was led by Alex Acker’s 15 points. Lukasz Koszarek added 13 and Adam Hrycaniuk chipped in 12 points in the loss.
First quarter: After 12-point Prokom lead, Brown takes over
Prokom coach Kestutis Kemzura made one change to his starting lineup from last week with Jerel Blassingame coming off the bench in favor of Frank Robinson, who started along with Acker, Koszarek, Hrycaniuk and Robert Witka. Siena boss Luca Banchi swapped Janning and Viktor Sanikidze for Marcelus Kemp and Kangur into the first five along with Brown, Moss and Mario Kasun. Acker started the game with a three-ball from the left corner and the hosts did a good job getting the ball into the blocks where Hrycaniuk scored two baskets for a 7-0 Prokom lead. Siena struggled to find any offensive rhythm and finally got on the scoreboard with Brown’s triple from the left wing after three minutes played. After a Hrycaniuk jumper, Janning matched Brown from outside to trim the gap to 9-6. Koszarek answered with a three of his own and Prokom took advantage of a technical by Banchi with two Acker free throws and a Koszarek long ball from the left wing on the ensuing possession for a 17-6 lead. A Rasid Mahalbasic free throw pushed the advantage to 12 points at 18-6. Moss hit Siena’s third three-pointer and then Brown began to take over with three free throws to cut it to 20-12. Benjamin Ortner scored inside for the guests before Brown made two more free throws and a three pointer from the right wing to bring Siena within 22-19. The hosts were down just one point after one quarter as Hackett’s shot just beat the buzzer to make it 22-21 after 10 minutes.
Second quarter: Ress scores 8 in 12-0 Siena run
Piotr Szczotka layup opened the scoring for Prokom and Mateusz Ponitka’s driving layup pushed the hosts’ lead back to four points – 26-22. Brown however responded again with a long ball and Moss hit a baseline jumper for Siena’s first lead of the game 26-27. Hrycaniuk briefly gave his team the lead back with an offensive rebound putback for 28-27, Tomas Ress took over for Siena with Brown on the bench, nailing a three-pointer from straight on and a driving layup for a 28-32 Montepaschi lead and a timeout for the home team. Kangur made two free throws and Hackett converted twice from the line after an unsportsmanlike foul on Blassingame before Ress’s second triple finished the 12-0 run for an 11-point lead 28-39. Ponitka ended the drought with a big three ball and then Mahalbasic scored a reverse layup and tip-in to bring Prokom within 35-42. Ponitka missed a chance to bring it even closer as he missed two free throws with two seconds left and the teams went to the break with Siena up by seven points.
Third quarter: Siena rains 8 triples to break game open
Ortner missed a thunder dunk to open the second half but grabbed the rebound and dished to Kangur for a layin and Janning knocked down a three from the right wing for a 35-47 lead. Siena also came out playing strong defense and did not allow Prokom to score until the 6:34 mark on a steal and layup by Koszarek. At the other end, Brown took over the game again with two foul shots and a jumper before nailing a long, long three to make it 39-54. While Prokom could do no right on offense, Siena made things look easy with Ortner converting a three-point play and Brown knocking down another triple for a 20-point margin – 40-60. Acker snapped the 13-3 Siena run with a long three-ball of his own before Moss, Kangur and Janning all joined the three-point parade and Ress made two foul shots as the lead bulged to 30 points – 43-73. But Siena was not done with Brown hitting from long range again and Kangur finding the target from downtown just before the buzzer for Siena’s eighth three-pointer of the quarter and 47-79 lead.
Fourth quarter: More Siena long range attack
Hrycaniuk and Robinson opened the fourth quarter with three free throws but Siena showed it wanted it much more by beating Prokom back after the foul shot for a Janning dunk. An Acker triple trimmed the gap to 30 points but Moss, Janning and Moss again were successful from long range yet again to push the lead to 35 points – 57-92. Prokom brought on new signing Ryan Richards who scored three points in the final two minutes but could not help bring the hosts any closer. In fact Marco Carretto nailed a three-pointer to push Siena over the century mark and a 37-point lead 64-101. And Ponitka’s steal and layup finished off the game.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Euroleague.net