Telekom Baskets Bonn used a huge second quarter for a crucial road win, defeating Virtus Rome 75-85 on Tuesday night. Win improves Telekom Baskets to 3-2, in a sole possession of the third place in Group D, while Virtus Rome drops to 2-3 in a share of the fourth place. The hosts opened the game with 14-2 lead, but the rest of the first half belonged to Bonn which finished the second quarter on a 1-16 run, opening up 33-48 halftime lead. Rome never came closer than 9 points rest of the way, as the margin was as big as 21 points in the fourth quarter. Benas Veikalas netted 23 points in victory, Jamel McLean had 14 points plus 7 rebounds, while Tony Gaffney scored 13. For the hosts, Bobby Jones scored 19 points, Quinton Hosley had 18, while Jimmy Baron added 14 in defeat.

The hosts had a dream start to the game, with Jones nailing couple of triples for 14-2 after only 3 minutes. But Bonn got basket-plus-fouls from McLean and Veikalas, cutting it to 16-11, before David McCray and Ryan Brooks hit back-to-back triples at the start of the second to help the visitors get within 24-23. Back-to-back triples from Veikalas gave Bonn its first lead, 27-29, and after dunk by Hosley tied it 32-32 midway through the second quarter, Bonn went on a big run. McLean twice inside, and Veikalas twice from the outside, fueled things before Jared Jordan hit a jumper for 33-48 halftime lead. Andrej Mangold opened the third period with a three-pointer for an 18-point margin, but Virtus countered with an 11-2 run as Trevor Mbakwe scored couple of baskets and Philip Goss sunk a three-pointer. However, Veikalas, Tony Gaffney and Brooks pushed the lead back into the double figures, and Steve Wachalski nailed a triple for 46-66. Wachalski’s second triple, after 2 minutes in the fourth quarter, made it 53-74, putting the game out of reach for the hosts before Jones and Hosley cut the deficit in the final couple of minutes.