2021-22Regular SeasonRound 9
January 12, 2022 CET: 20:30
Local time: 20:30 VIRTUS SEGAFREDO ARENA

Virtus survives against Bourg after blowing late lead

Virtus Segafredo Bologna wasted an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter but fended off Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse 83-82 at home in Group B. The game was close until Virtus went on an 18-1 run spanning the final two quarters to build an 11-point lead. Bourg raced back to tie the game but Kyle Weems drained 2 three-pointers and 2 big free throws in the final 89 seconds to ice the game. Weems and Mam Jaiteh both scored 15 points and Marco Belinelli added 13 points for Virtus, which improved to 6-3. Bourg dropped to 2-7 and has still not won on the road. Jalen Jones led the way with 17 points while JaCorey Williams and Maxime Roos both scored 13 points.

Amar Alibegovic opened the scoring and Williams hit at the other end. Jones gave Bourg its first lead 4-5, the first of five lead changes - with Maxime Courby and Belinelli making three-pointers for either side, the latter of which was followed by an Alessandro Pajola three-point play and Jaiteh score for an 18-12 advantage. Bourg failed to score for almost 3 minutes before Pierre Pelos knocked down a triple. Virtus led 22-17 after 10 minutes.

Jaiteh scored two baskets early in the second quarter, but Bourg started hitting from long range as Pelos, Hugo Benitez and Alexandre Chassang all knocked down triples and Roos nailed two three-pointers and Bourg was up 26-32. Amedeo Tessitori stopped a nearly 4-minute Virtus scoring drought, Isaia Cordinier connected on three-pointers and Weems also hit a three-pointer to put Virtus back ahead 39-37. The hosts led 43-42 at the break.

Weems started the scoring in the second half and CJ Harris put Bourg back ahead with a three-pointer and 6 straight points had the visitors up 47-53. Virtus held Bourg scoreless for the final 5:19 of the quarter and five different players scored - including a Nico Mannion three-pointer - in a 13-0 run to surge back ahead 60-53 after 30 minutes.

Bourg finally ended the 6:13-minute drought with an Axel Julien free throw from a Belinelli technical foul. Jaiteh and Weems scored as Virtus increased the lead to double figures 65-54 with more than 7 minutes left. Roos scored Bourg’s first basket in 9 minutes and then added a three-pointer and layup. Jones added 5 points to complete a 1-12 run to knot the game at 66-66 with less than 4 minutes to play. Virtus punched back with 6 straight points and Weems drained back-to-back three-pointers for a 78-70 cushion with 42 seconds left. Bourg was not dead yet with Courby and Rasheed Sulaimon both hitting triples and Courby adding a steal and layup and Sulaimon knocking down foul shots to pull within 81-80 with 8.2 seconds remaining. Weems’s 2 free throws were matched by 2 from Sulaimon with 5.9 seconds left. But Virtus was able to run out the clock for the win.

Pajola does best in filling in for Teodosic

Virtus came into the game without leading playmaker Milos Teodosic, who went down with an injury during Italian League action earlier in the week. Alessandro Pajola did his best to help fill in for the veteran’s absence. The 22-year-old chipped in 7 points as well as 4 rebounds and 9 assists for a performance index rating of 15 before fouling out after more than 24 minutes. The 9 assists were a career-high for Pajola, who committed 3 turnovers in the game.

Jalen Jones makes strong debut

In the past week, Bourg tried to add reinforcements to turn around its season with the signing of Jalen Jones, who had played 13 games in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague for Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in 2018-19. The 28-year-old forward had a strong debut in the EuroCup as he scored a team-high 17 points - making 7 of 14 shots and 2 of 4 free throws. Jones also picked up 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals for an index rating of 17.

Telling numbers - Virtus defends well on two-pointers

Virtus came into the game as one of the offensive powerhouses, leading the league in assists and three-point shooting and ranking second in points and two-point shooting percentage. But defensively, Sergio Scariolo’s team had been giving up the third-most points while ranking 15th in opponents’ two-point percentage at 55.8%. Virtus rose to the challenge against Bourg though, holding the French club to just 46.0% on two-pointers. Virtus also connected on 78.3% of its free throws - which showed its importance at the end.

Kyle Weems - Virtus Segafredo Bologna (photo Matteo Marchi - Virtus) - EC21
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; FOUFIS, IOANNIS; VAN DEN BROECK, NICK
Attendance: 1508
By Quarter1234
Virtus Segafredo Bologna22211723
Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse17251129
End of Quarter1234
Virtus Segafredo Bologna22436083
Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse17425382
Virtus Segafredo Bologna
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 TESSITORI, AMEDEO 18:03 6 2/2 0/1 2/3 2 3 5     2     3 2 6
00 CORDINIER, ISAIA 22:43 9 1/1 2/4 1/2   5 5 3         1 4 17
1 MANNION, NICCOLO 13:39 4 0/1 1/1 1/2   1 1 3   2     2 2 4
3 BELINELLI, MARCO 23:52 13 2/7 1/4 6/6   1 1 2   3   1 2 3 5
6 PAJOLA, ALESSANDRO 24:36 7 2/2 0/2 3/3 1 3 4 9 1 3     5 4 15
7 ALIBEGOVIC, AMAR 11:54 4 2/5 0/1     1 1 1   1     3   -2
11 RUZZIER, MICHELE 10:33 4 2/2               1     1   2
14 JAITEH, MAM 19:18 15 6/8   3/4 4 4 8 2 2 3 1   1 4 25
15 ALEXANDER, TY-SHON 12:01   0/1 0/2     1 1       1       -1
17 CERON, MARCO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
25 SAMPSON, JAKARR 18:04 6 3/5   0/1   2 2   1       2 1 5
34 WEEMS, KYLE 25:17 15 2/3 3/6 2/2   5 5 4   1     2 2 19
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 83 22/37 7/21 18/23 8 28 36 24 4 16 2 1 22 22 98
        59.5% 33.3% 78.3%
Head coach: SCARIOLO, SERGIO
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
Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 SULAIMON, RASHEED 31:35 9 1/5 1/3 4/4   5 5 3 1 1   1   3 13
2 CHASSANG, ALEXANDRE 13:03 3   1/1     1 1 2   1     3 2 4
5 BENITEZ, HUGO 12:52 3 0/1 1/1     1 1 4   1     3   3
7 COURBY, MAXIME 18:52 8 1/3 2/2     3 3   1 1     2 1 8
11 HARRIS JR., CALVIN 20:25 3 0/2 1/1         4   3     2 1 1
13 PELOS, PIERRE 13:12 8 0/1 2/3 2/2 1   1 1 1       3 2 8
21 JONES, JALEN 27:54 17 6/10 1/4 2/4 3 3 6 1 2       4 4 17
22 WILLIAMS, JACOREY 25:43 13 5/10   3/6 1 4 5   3 1 1 1 1 4 15
23 ROOS, MAXIME 16:49 13 2/3 3/6     3 3   1 1     1 1 12
83 JULIEN, AXEL 19:35 5 2/2 0/4 1/1   2 2 4 1 3     3 3 5
Team           1 1 2     1         1
Totals 200:00 82 17/37 12/25 12/17 6 23 29 19 10 13 1 2 22 21 87
        45.9% 48% 70.6%
Head coach: SIMON, GERALD

Head Coaches

SCARIOLO, SERGIO
Virtus Segafredo Bologna

“I am pleased with this win. It was not easy at all. No game in this EuroCup is easy. You have to fight, you have to have concentration, you have to play with heart, you have to play with your brain connected because you have talent in any opponent. And they can have a scoring run at any time. If you are not in control and have concentration lapses once in a while you will pay for it. I think we built up an excellent late-game lead. We were up 7, 8 points in a pretty comfortable situation. Unfortunately, we probably thought the game was over a little bit too early. We made a couple of avoidable mistakes - even from pretty experienced players. But at the end of the day, the team proved that it has heart. We went down by 6 points at some point and we didn’t lose our composure. We just turned up our defense a couple of levels. And we turned the game in our favor with 10-12 minutes of pretty good defense in the second half.”

 

SIMON, GERALD

Assistant Coach Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse

“I think we had a great, great first half. On defense, I asked my players to stop the transition and break for Virtus because they play a lot like that. I think we did a good job on that. I regret the third quarter. I think we had a lot of great looks but we hesitated. You lose the timing of the offense and it was impossible to play like this. But we fought until the end. We pushed Virtus for 40 minutes and showed great spirit. We scored a lot of points. It was a great thing for us because we have had some problems on offense in the French league. And I think we can be proud of the job we did.”

Players

WEEMS, KYLE
Virtus Segafredo Bologna
“I am just happy I was able to come through for my team after an easy ball I should have got [and resulted in a turnover]. But a win is a win. It’s on to the next game.”