2008-09Regular SeasonRound 6
December 03, 2008 CET: 19:45
Local time: 19:45 100 YEARS OF SOPOT HALL

Montepaschi Siena downed Asseco Prokom 73-81

Montepaschi Siena put one foot in the Top 16 already by overpowering Asseco Prokom 71-83 on Wednesday in Poland to stay first in Group B. Siena is now 5-1 and will be qualified for the Top 16 if the teams it was tied with going into the week, Panathinaikos and Regal FC Barcelona, win their games on Thursday. Prokom fell to 2-4 and remains in fourth place for the moment. All-Euroleague first team guard Terrell McIntyre paced Siena with 26 points, 15 of them on triples, and Rimantas Kaukenas came off the bench to contribute with 22 more for the Italian champs. Shaun Stonerook added 10 points, but most importantly, helped fellow big men Ksistof Lavrinovic and Benjamin Eze control the paint on the defensive end, forcing Prokom into 16 turnovers. That trio also combined for 23 rebounds. David Logan's aggressive style helped him score 15 points in the second half to lead Prokom with 20, while Daniel Ewing netted 15 points and Aleksej Nesovic 12, all of his on three-point shots in the second half. Next week Prokom goes to meet Nancy in France in an extremely important game for their fourth-place battle, while Siena will host Zalgiris Kaunas.

McIntyre hit the game's first basket from downtown for Siena while Benjamin Eze protected the paint with a block for the visitors. But soon enough, Adam Hrycaniuk hit a jumper and Ronnie Burrell dunked of a Ewing dish to put Prokom ahead, 4-3. Ewing and McIntyre pushed the ball for their teams in a run-and-gun exchange with lots of misses. That style seemed to fit Siena better, as McIntyre and Domercant converted steals into layups that put the Italian champs back in front. A timeout by Prokom head coach Tomas Pacesas didn't seem to help as Siena's defense kept haunting the hosts into turnovers leading to fastbreak opportunities. A Pat Burke free throw was all Prokom would score in more than 4 minutes until Ewing beat the buzzer to cut Montepaschi's advantage to 9-13 after 10 minutes.

Kaukenas hit a triple on the 24-second buzzer with Siena's first possession of the second quarter and then Domercant nailed another from the corner to expand the visitors' lead to 10 points, 91-19. Logan and Burrell combined for 5 points in response, but Siena's Eze dominated inside on both ends of the floor and Kaukenas kept beating his defender to either score or set up his big men. With his team behind 14-26, Pacesas took another timeout, after which Przemyslaw Zamojski and Ewing each hit three-pointers for Prokom. When Ewing dunked on a fast-break, it was 22-31 and Siena head coach Simone Pianigiani wanted a timeout. Morris Finley turned the momentum again with a triple for the visitors, Kaukenas earned a trip to the free throw line and McIntyre silenced the crowd with another shot from the arc. Even though Ewing and Logan answered with 6 straight points for Prokom, the Montepaschi lead held at 28-38 going to halftime.

Eze forced Burke into another tough shot to start the second half, but Prokom's center answered with a block on the other end. The hosts were making long shots again, with Logan and Zamojski combining for 8 points, but could not stop McIntyre and Domercant from doing better by nailing 3 of 3 from downtown for Montepaschi. Everyone seemed to be hitting, as Aleksej Nesovic added another triple for Prokom, and Kaukenas made a three-point play and a two-point basket to give Siena a 39-52 lead. Logan was in attack mode with acrobatic shots, but McIntyre hit his fourth triple of the night and split free throws to keep the hosts at a distance. Though Ewing would cut the lead to 10, Siena's big men kept harassing Prokom's slashers into turnovers and poor shots. Filip Dylewicz and Ewing fought hard for their points, before Kaukenas scored a three to finish the third quarter with Montepaschi still in command, 50-63.

Stonerook's tough three-point-play kept Montepaschi strong early in the final quarter. He and Lavrinovic overpowered Prokom's big men for offensive rebounds now, giving Kaukenas a chance for more points. Though it was 52-70 now, Prokom wouldn't surrender, but rather summoned a 1-8 run, before McIntyre found a wide-open Stonerook for a three from the corner. On the other end, Nesovic hit his third triple of the half and Logan made foul shots to bring the margin down to 9 points, 65-74, but McIntyre put it back to 11 with 2 minutes to go. The Polish crowd kept chanting for Prokom until another Stonerook three silenced them for good and Montepaschi put one foot into the Top 16.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Euroleague.net
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Referees: ARTEAGA, JUAN CARLOS; VYKLICKY, ROBERT; KOROMILAS, ELIAS
Attendance: 2000
By Quarter1234
Asseco Prokom9192221
Montepaschi Siena13252520
End of Quarter1234
Asseco Prokom9285071
Montepaschi Siena13386383
Asseco Prokom
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
7 ARCHIBONG, KOKO 16:24     0/1     1 1 1     1   2    
8 DYLEWICZ, FILIP 14:43 4 2/4     2 1 3     1     4 1 1
10 NESOVIC, ALEKSEJ 23:51 12 0/1 4/4   1 5 6 2 1 2     4   14
12 LOGAN, DAVID 37:50 20 5/10 2/6 4/6 1 4 5 4 2 4 1 1 2 5 19
13 KOSTRZEWSKI, MATEUSZ DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
16 LAPETA, ADAM DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
17 ZAMOJSKI, PRZEMYSLAW 17:07 6   2/3     1 1 1   2     2   3
20 SZCZOTKA, PIOTR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
30 BURRELL, RONNIE 38:11 9 2/6 1/2 2/2 2 6 8 2 2 1 2   2 2 17
31 BURKE, PAT 12:49 3 1/6   1/2   1 1     2 1     1 -2
32 EWING, DANIEL 29:17 15 5/8 1/5 2/5   1 1 2 2 4     2 6 10
34 HRYCANIUK, ADAM 9:48 2 1/3       5 5         1 2   2
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 71 16/38 10/21 9/15 8 26 34 12 7 16 5 2 20 15 67
        42.1% 47.6% 60%
Head coach: PACESAS, TOMAS
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
Montepaschi Siena
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 DOMERCANT, HENRY 23:30 8 1/5 2/4   1 3 4 1       1   1 7
5 MCINTYRE, TERRELL 25:32 26 2/4 5/9 7/8   1 1 3 2 1   1 1 4 26
7 FINLEY, MORRIS 14:28 5 0/1 1/2 2/2 1   1 2   1   1 1 1 4
8 EZE, BENJAMIN 20:28 3 1/4   1/2 3 5 8   2 1 2     1 11
9 CARRARETTO, MARCO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 SATO, ROMAIN 25:39 4 1/1 0/3 2/2 1 2 3     3     2 2 1
12 LAVRINOVIC, KSISTOF 28:06 5 2/5 0/2 1/1 1 8 9   2     2 2 3 10
13 KAUKENAS, RIMANTAS 30:51 22 6/10 2/3 4/5 1   1 2 2 2     3 5 21
14 RESS, TOMAS 4:21     0/1   1   1     1     1   -2
18 LECHTHALER, LUCA 1:40         1   1           1    
19 CENTANNI, SIMONE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 STONEROOK, SHAUN 25:25 10 1/2 2/8 2/3 1 5 6 2 2 1     4 3 10
Team             2 2           1   1
Totals 200:00 83 14/32 12/32 19/23 11 26 37 10 10 10 2 5 16 20 89
        43.8% 37.5% 82.6%
Head coach: PIANIGIANI, SIMONE

Head Coaches

PACESAS, TOMAS
Asseco Prokom
"There is no doubt that Montepaschi team deserved to win tonight. We tried to fight ambitiously but they were too strong. As for the game, our big men could not find their own rhythm tonight. It is impossible to defeat top team like Montepaschi when only three players - our guards - score most of the points."
PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
Montepaschi Siena
"We started the game like a top team must do. We knew that it is not easy to play in Sopot, so we started the game with an aggresive defense. That gave us a lot of confidence. My players were also creative in offense, finding good options and attempting many open shots. Not all of them gave us points but I am satisfied with the good balance of our overall performance in offense tonight. This is a very important win for us, as we fight with Panathinaikos and Barcelona for the first place in our group."

Players

BURKE, PAT
Asseco Prokom
"This is a very disappointing loss. We made too many stupid turnovers and when we tried to catch them, they immediately answered in offense. Our team is not in a good point and we must figure out what is wrong."
DOMERCANT, HENRY
Montepaschi Siena
"We had two big players tonight - Terrel McIntyre and Rimantas Kaukenas. That was a big plus for us but the most important thing was that we were able to play responsibly from the very beginning until the end of the game."
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