Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari pulled away late to down EWE Baskets Oldenburg 82-74 on Wednesday night. Both teams now hold 4-2 record in a four-team first place tie with Cedevita Zagreb and Bilbao Basket in Group B. Sassari, however, holds a tiebreaker over EWE Baskets as it won both head-to-head matches. Two teams traded leads for the first 30 minutes, and neither team had a lead larger than 4 points before the hosts pulled away early in the fourth quarter. Marques Green orchestrated the run, while Manuel Vanuzzo and Drake Diener each hit a three-pointer as Sassari opened 71-60 lead midway through the fourth quarter, and preserved the advantage until the end. Drake Diener paced the winners with 21 points on 5 of 8 three-point shooting. Caleb Green netted 17, Linton Johnson added 13, while Marques Green had 8 points plus 6 assists. Andrea Crosariol had 14 points for the visitors, while Nemanja Aleksandrov, Chris Kramer, Dru Joyce and Rickey Paulding had 11 apiece.
In the early going teams traded baskets, and it was 9-10 after Drake Diener and Aleksandrov traded triples. Couple of dunks from Caleb Green and a three-pointer from Manuel Vanuzzo made it 18-14, but Kramer sunk a three-pointer on the other end, before adding a fastbreak dunk to his tally, helping the visitors to 20-21 after 10 minutes. A three-pointer from Julius Jenkins and a jump shot from Joyce had EWE Baskets up 22-26, and after Omar Thomas and Johnson each scored inside, Konrad Wysocki had a layup-plus-foul for 28-32. Sassari quickly regained the lead with back-to-back triples from Drake Diener, but baskets by Paulding and Joyce gave the visitors 34-36 at halftime. Crosariol and Aleksandrov scored inside after the break, but Drake Diener and Caleb Green hit back-to-back triples for 40-40. Teams traded leads as Crosariol and Aleksandrov made put-back for the visitors, while Drake Diener sunk couple of shots for Sassari. At the end of the third, Brian Sacchetti sunk a triple and made a layup for 55-51 after 30 minutes, and the hosts pulled away with a 7-0 run early in the fourth, as Vanuzzo scored another one from downtown. Drake Diener added a triple of his own, and after Aleksandrov and Crosariol scored from close range, Marques Green, Caleb Green and Johnson each made a shot to extend it to 71-60. Paulding nailed a triple to give EWE Baskets hope, and the visitors the close within 74-69, but Caleb Green scored from long range in the final minute to put the game out of reach.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Eurocupbasketball.com