2001-02Regular SeasonRound 9
December 19, 2001 CET: 00:00
Local time: 00:00 PALAVERDE
Benetton Treviso has pulled off another last-minute win and can now see clearly to the Top 16 after escaping an intense challenge by visiting Efes Pilsen with an 88-86 Group A win on Wednesday. Benetton improved its record to 7-2 and mantains its first place in the Group A while Efes has now a negative 4-5 record and must fight all the harder for a cherished finish in the top four. Tyus Edney led the winners with 18 points, but once again Marcelo Nicola was among the fourth-period heroes and finished with 17 points. Bostjan Nachbar added 14. Marcus Brown, in his return to PalaVerde, led all scorers with 22 for Efes. Saulius Stombergas added 21 and Kaspars Kambala 14, but the rookie center missed two at the foulline in the closing seconds that might have sent the game to overtime, where it maybe should have belonged after 40 evenly-fought minutes.

The game started with man-to-man defense for both teams and effective offensive choices. Efes took the early lead, 9-13, with three consecutive shots scored from downtown by the Saulius Stombergas. Benetton responded impressively to that challenge, going off on a 14-0 run based on improved defensive pressure to take a 23-13 lead on a fastbreak basket by Mario Stojic, just back from injury. The period ended 26-21 as Efes big man Kaya Peker was able to score the last three points and keep his team in shouting distance.

The second period was more balanced and the two teams were close the whole time. Efes Pilsen aligned the 2-3 zone defense and Benetton challenged with its usual drive-and-dish-off attack, but the shooting accuracy wasn¿t there. A three-pointer by Kerem Tunceri gave Efes back the lead finally at 39-41 after 17 minutes. As Benetton's defense kept suffering, both the drives of the Efes guards and under the boards, the host fell down by 9 points, 38-47 with 90 seconds on the clock. Mehmet Okur suffered an ankle injury and Benetton struck back with three-pointers by Nicola and Chikalkin to within 44-47 and that's where the score remained at the break. Omer Onan was up to 11 points then for the gues, while Saulius Stombergas was still on his early 9., Marcelo Nicola and Bostjan Nachbar had 9 each for Benetton. Efes Pilsen went back to the man-to-man defense, but two 24 seconds violations for the Turkish team and a layup for Chikalkin gave a new lead of the hometeam. Still, the game was on fire and Efes was in it. The former Benetton player Marcus Brown scored 8 points in this first minutes of the period and with the help of Stombergas, who returned to being effective from the perimeter, the visitors mantained a short advantage. But Tyus Edney was unstoppable for Benetton, too, and with a final 6-0 run, capped by a mid-range jumper from Alan Tomidy, the hometeam tied the score at the end of the period, 66-66. Edney was Benetton's new leading scorer with 18 points while Stombergas had surged to 16 for Efes.

Starting the last quarter, as in Malaga eight days before, Marcelo Nicola scored five straight points, though Okur and Kambala were on fire and Efes was back into its zone defense. In the middle of the period, Stombergas gave the Turks a 75-78 advantage with a lay up. Benetton answered with its big men again, as Jorge Garbajosa and Marconato seized the lead on 82-80. Then was an incredible final of game, Stomberags scored from downtown, Garbajosa replied from the corner, Marcus Brown made a three-point play and then Marconato scored for an 87-86 Benetton lead with 32 seconds on the clock. Those 32 ticks may come back to haunt Efes. All in one play, Efes's hopes went south: Kambala missed a slam dunk, Okur grabbed the board but turned over it and Stombergas fouled out. Riccardo Pittis went to the line and made 1 of 2 for Benetton to make it 88-86. On the final possession, Kerem Tunceri's three-point attempt to win it was blocked by Edney, but Kambala grabbed the board and Garbajosa foul him. Instead of sending it to overtime, however, Kambala missed both free throws and Benetton triumphed 88-86.
Wednesday, December 19, 2001
Romano Petitti, Treviso
No results found.
Referees: AMOROS, XAVIER; DE LA MAZA, FRANCISCO; LEPETIC, NIKOLA
Attendance: 2894
By Quarter1234
Benetton Basket26182222
Efes Pilsen21261920
End of Quarter1234
Benetton Basket26446688
Efes Pilsen21476686
Benetton Basket
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 NICOLA, MARCELO 19:00 16 2/2 4/9     1 1   1         1 14
5 EDNEY, TYUS 33:00 18 3/7 3/5 3/4 5 2 7 8   4 1   1 4 26
6 STOJIC, MARIO 11:00 3 0/1 1/1     1 1           3 2 2
7 PITTIS, RICCARDO 22:00 3     3/4 1 3 4 3 2 1     4 4 10
8 MARCONATO, DENIS 28:00 11 5/6   1/2 4 4 8 2 1 1 3   2 2 22
9 BULLERI, MASSIMO 11:00 2 1/2 0/1             2     2 2 -2
10 CHIKALKIN, SERGEI 20:00 7 2/2 0/4 3/4       1 2 1     1   3
11 TOMIDY, ALAN 3:00 2 1/1                         2
12 NACHBAR, BOSTJAN 23:00 11 4/9 1/4   1 3 4     1   1 2 3 6
13 BASEI, FRANCESCO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 SERENI, GIACOMO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 GARBAJOSA, JORGE 30:00 15 2/4 3/6 2/2 1 2 3 2 1 1     2 4 17
Team           1 2 3   6           9
Totals 200:00 88 20/34 12/30 12/16 13 18 31 16 13 11 4 1 17 22 109
        58.8% 40% 75%
Head coach: D'ANTONI, MIKE
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
Efes Pilsen
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 ARSLAN, ENDER DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5 BROWN, MARCUS 32:00 22 5/8 3/6 3/3 1 6 7 5 1 3   1 4 4 25
6 ONAN, OMER 24:00 11 3/5 1/2 2/2 2   2 1 3 1   1 1 1 12
7 STOMBERGAS, SAULIUS 31:00 21 3/5 5/7             2   1 5 3 12
8 EKMEN, ENVER DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 VEKILOGLU, ARDA 8:00           1 1             1 2
10 TUNCERI, KEREM 25:00 3 0/2 1/4   1 1 2   1 1   1 3   -4
11 YILMAZ, ALPER 8:00 2 1/1 0/1   1   1               2
12 OZKAN, HASAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 OKUR, MEHMET 32:00 10 3/7 1/3 1/2 1 6 7 2   1     2 1 10
14 PEKER, KAYA 4:00 3 1/1   1/2 1 1 2 1         3 1 3
15 KAMBALA, KASPARS 36:00 14 6/10   2/4 4 5 9 1 2 3 1   4 6 20
Team           1 2 3   4 2         5
Totals 200:00 86 22/39 11/23 9/13 12 22 34 10 11 13 1 4 22 17 87
        56.4% 47.8% 69.2%
Head coach: MAHMUTI, OKTAY
This game has no play by play yet

Head Coaches

D'ANTONI, MIKE
Benetton Basket
"We are tired but we found the way to win the game. We started playing very well and taking a ten-point lead, so our players thought that the game could be easy and when that happens it's difficult to start playing hard again. Garbajosa was very important for us. He scored important baskets and we found our energy, now it¿s a difficult period for us and we have many things to solve, but it's easier to solve the problems if you are in the first place of the Italian League and the Euroleague".

Players

EDNEY, TYUS
Benetton Basket
"We played very well in the first period and they didn't create us any difficulties with the zone defense in the second one. Our coach asked us in the break to play harder on defense and we made it. We played more aggressive in the second half and we tried to push the ball and run in fastbreak to avoid their aligned defense. Now we are in first place of Group A and we want to mantain this position until the end of the regular season".
No results found.