Lottomatica Roma rallied past Spirou Charleoi 95-83

Lottomatica Roma used a 20-2 run to start the fourth quarter in pulling away for a 95-83 victory at home over Spirou Charleroi in Group B of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. Darius Washington scored a career-high 27 points in helping Roma improve to 4-3, joining Real Madrid and Unicaja in a three-way tie for second place behind Olympiacos in Group B. Nihad Djedovic added 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists for Lottomatica while Ali Traore chipped in 12 points and 5 rebounds and Josh Heytvelt scored 10 points for the winners. Roma, which next plays at Real Madrid, owns the tiebreaker against both Brose Baskets and Spirou Charleroi. Joseph Gomis collected 19 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists for Charleroi, which dropped to 2-5 and saw its two-game winning streak snapped. Brian Green added 13 points while Brent Wright scored 11 points and Chris Hill had 10 points with Andre Riddick chipping in 9 points and 7 rebounds. Charleroi hosts Brose Baskets next week.

Djedovic opened the scoring for the home side and Daniel Santiago answered for Spirou. Luigi Datome knocked down a three-pointer for Roma for a 5-2 lead and Washington’s basket had Lottomatica ahead 7-4. Gomis however hit a layup and then a three-ball of his own to knot the game at 9-9. After Riddick evened the game at 11-11, Washington hit two foul shots and Djedovic picked off a ball and scored a break-away layup for a 15-11 lead. Heytvelt nailed a three-ball and then Luca Vitali drained a long jumper to open a 20-13 advantage – Roma’s biggest of the game thus far. Riddick’s tough basket inside stopped the 9-2 Lottomatica run and Demond Mallet knocked down a three-pointer to bring Spirou within 20-18, resulting in a Roma timeout. Green made two free throws to even the game at 20-20 and then hit a jumper in the lane just before the buzzer to give Charleroi the lead 22-24 after one quarter.

Riddick’s two foul shots opened the second quarter and was answered by two freebies from Washington before Traore’s jump hook to knot the game at 26-26. After Gomis and Wright pushed the Spriou advantage to 26-30, Datome threw down a put-back dunk and Heytvelt had a dunk of his own to even the game again at 30-30. But Green nailed a three-ball from the left corner and a short jumper while Wright scored a put-back and hit a long jumper as Charleroi opened a 33-39 cushion. Roma’s Charles Smith was called for an unsportsmanlike foul and Gomis made two free throws to push the advantage to 35-43. And it was 37-45 after Christophe Begin’s layup in the lane. But Washington drove into the lane for a basket and Datome made two foul shots to bring Roma back within 41-45 at halftime.

Traore hit back-to-back baskets to open the second half and knot the game at 45-45. But Justin Hamilton came up with a reverse layup and Green nailed another score to re-establish a four-point lead 45-49. Washington however answered with a three-point play and Djedovic converted a driving lay-up followed by Heytvelt’s put-back to bring Roma within 52-53. Smith made two foul shots to push Lottomatica ahead and Traore continued his strong third quarter with another layup and Smith hit a layup of his own for a 58-54 Roma advantage and a Charleroi timeout midway through the third period. Dwayne Broyles cut the deficit to two points before Smith and Vladimir Dasic nailed three-balls for a 64-56 lead – Roma’s biggest lead thus far. Riddick answered with a layup after a pick-and-roll for a 64-58 game and a Lottomatica timeout. After three free throws by Wright and Riddick, Andrea Crosariol hit a layup for a 66-61 lead. But Broyles downed a tough layup and Gomis converted a three-point play with less than three seconds left in the quarter to even the game at 66-66 going into the final 10 minutes.

Washington started the fourth quarter out on the break with a layup and converted the three-point play before getting another break-away layup for a 71-66 lead and a Charleroi timeout. Roma came up with a defensive stop and Djedovic nailed a jumper for a 73-66 Roma cushion. Mallet’s two free throws stopped Roma’s 7-0 run to start the quarter but Washington nailed a triple from the left wing and Heytvelt hit a trey from the top of the key before a break-away layup by Djedovic for an 81-68 advantage with less than six minutes to play. Washington knocked down another three-ball and Vitali hit a jumper to finish off a 20-2 run and an 86-68 lead. But Hill converted a three-point play and then knocked down a three-ball to trim the deficit to 88-76 with 3:30 left to play. But Traore scored out of the timeout and Djedovic knocked down a jumper as Roma did not let Charleroi back into the game and Washington canned a long jumper to finish off the guests for good.