Albicy's big night lifts MoraBanc at Cedevita

MoraBanc Andorra started the Top 16 with a tough road win over Cedevita Zagreb at Dom Sportova Zagreb in the Croatian capital on Wednesday night. The visitors led by as many as 16 in the third quarter before roaring back to tie it with a minute to go, but Andrew Albicy scored an amazing go-ahead layup and Cedevita did not score again. Albicy starred with a career-best 22 points on 6-of-8 three-point shooting plus 8 assists and 4 steals. He set club records for threes and with a performance index rating of 37. Dylan Ennis posted 15 points and 9 rebounds and John Shurna also scored 15 for MoraBanc against his former team. Justin Cobbs paced Cedevita with 19 points and 7 assists, Jacob Pullen netted 15, Elgin Cook 14 and Edo Muric 10.

The game was close early with seven lead changes in the first quarter alone. Ennis shined with 9 points in the first seven minutes, including a three-point play off a one-man fast break that made it 12-18. Pullen came off the bench and poured in 5 quick points before Cobbs tied the game from the line, 21-21. A Rafa Luz layup gave the visitors a 25-27 lead after 10 minutes. Cedevita went ahead early in the second quarter and Muric's put-back made it 34-28, but Albicy hit back with back-to-back triples to even the score before Ennis's free throw gave MoraBanc a 35-36 edge. The visitors scored 7 unanswered points to end the first half, capped by a David Jelinek three-pointer, to make it 40-49 at the break. After free throws by David Walker gave MoraBanc the game's first double-digit advantage, Cedevita roared back with 3 threes on as many possessions from Filip Kruslin, Cobbs and Cook. MoraBanc called timeout and then Albicy took charge. Over the next five minutes, MoraBanc outscored Cedevita 4-18 with the playmaker tallying 11 points, an assist and 3 steals in that stretch. Cobbs accounted for nearly all of Cedevita's offense over the next few minutes and Shurna free throws lifted the visitors to a 59-71 lead through three quarters. Cook scored 7 in a 10-0 Cedevita run that got the crowd back in the game at 69-76. Free throws by Pullen trimmed the deficit to a single possession, 76-79, with 3 minutes to play and the same player drilled a triple to tie the game at 81-81 with one minute remaining. However, the Cedevita comeback ended there. Albicy made an amazing layup-plus-foul while falling out of bounds to put MoraBanc back ahead, Walker stole the inbounds pass and scored and Shurna capped the win with a layup.

Albicy rewrites MoraBanc record books

Andrew Albicy continued his takeover of the MoraBanc record books with his big game that set club records for three-pointers made (6) and performance index rating (37). His 4 steals were 1 shy of the club record, which he also owns.

Pivotal play

After Andrew Albicy gave MoraBanc a 2-point lead with 45 seconds remaining, Cibona was set to answer and tie the game or potentially takes its first lead since early in the second quarter. Instead, David Walker tipped the inbounds pass to himself, turned and scored to make it a two-possession led and from that the hosts never recovered.

Cobbs sets Cedevita record

Justin Cobbs set a Cedevita record in defeat by making 12 free throws without a miss. In doing so, he tied Pierre Jackson's record for most free throws by a Cedevita player in a EuroCup game and bettered Marino Bazdaric's mark for the best perfect-shooting night from the line. Bazdaric was 11 for 11 in a March 2011 game. The EuroCup record is 19 free throws without a miss, set by Roger Grimau of Caprabo Lleida in the inaugural EuroCup season.

Telling stat

Cedevita was undone by its 20 turnovers, which were 7 more than MoraBanc committed. Even in the fourth quarter, when the Cedevita defense blocked 3 shots, made a pair of steals and forced 6 turnovers in coming back in the game, the hosts also made 6 turnovers.