Adams, Teodosic lead Virtus past Lokomotiv

In a battle of 7DAYS EuroCup heavyweight powerhouses, Virtus Segafredo Bologna remained undefeated in Group C by topping Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar 85-79 at home on Wednesday. Virtus improved to 2-0 while Lokomotiv dropped to 1-1. Milos Teodosic led the winners with 18 points and 7 assists, Josh Adams added 17 points, Kyle Weems scored 13 and Julian Gamble posted 9 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks. Mindaugas Kuzminskas paced Lokomotiv with 20 points, Will Cummings added 18, Jordan Crawford had 15 and Reggie Lynch tallied 14 rebounds and 6 blocks for the visitors, who kept their chances open until the final minutes when Teodosic, Weems and Gamble made the difference.

Alan Wiliams and Kuzminskas got Lokomotiv going before Cummings hit a triple for a 4-7 lead. Amedeo Tessitori took over with a second-chance layup and Adams bettered Crawford's fastbreak basket with a bomb from downtown that tied it at 9-9. Kuzminskas dunked and Crawford buried a three-pointer that restored a 9-14 Lokomotiv lead. Teodosic answered from beyond the arc and Amar Alibegovic added a layup that evened things at 14-14 after 10 minutes. Cummings scored in penetration early in the second quarter and Kuzminskas gave Lokomotiv fresh air at 14-18. Teodosic stepped up with 5 quick points, but Mantas Kalnietis and an inspired Kuzminskas kept the guests in charge, 22-28. Crawford knocked connected from downtown after which the hosts called timeout at 22-31. Teodosic insisted from downtown and fed Tessitori for a dunk that brought Virtus within 27-32. Weems buried a three, but so did Crawford and Andrei Martiuk for a 32-40 Lokomotiv lead. Adamas hit back-to-back jumpers to fix the halftime score at 36-40.

Giampaolo Ricci sank a couple of corner triples immediately after the break and got help from Weems to complete Virtus's comeback, 44-42. Lynch and Kuzminskas stepped up for the visitors, but Teodosic and Stefan Markovic boosted the hosts' leads to 50-46. Stanislav Ilnitskiy found answers with a layup-plus-foul. Weems erased that with a triple and soon added a fastbreak dunk that forced Lokomotiv to call timeout at 57-51. Gamble also dunked and Markovic downed a triple than made it a double-digit game, 62-52, after a 9-1 run. Lokomotiv found a go-to guy in Cummings, who singlehandedly brought his team within 68-63 after 30 minutes. Awudu Abass ignited the crowd with a high-flying follow-up layup early in the fourth quarter, but Williams did better with a three-point play. Adams downed a jumper and followed Gamble's layup with a triple for a 77-69 score with over 7 minutes left. After Teodosic and Cummings exchanged three-pointers, Kuzminskas gave Lokomotiv hope at 80-75 with less than 3 minutes to play. Gamble scored around the basket and Weems sealed the outcome with a corner triple.

Pivotal performer

Weems had a great all-around game and stepped up big in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with 13 points on 3-of-3 three-point shooting and added 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals a block for a team-high PIR of 22.

Game-changing moment

Lokomotiv got within 70-66 early in the fourth quarter, but Virtus looked for its backcourt stars to seal the outcome. Adams buried a jumper and struck from downtown. Teodosic also hit one from beyond the arc to boost Virtus's lead to 80-69. Even though Lokomotiv kept fighting, Virtus had full control of the game until the final buzzer.

Stellar stat

Virtus took much better care of the ball, finishing the game with 23 assists and just 11 turnovers. Lokomotiv had worse numbers in both categories - 14 assists and 17 turnovers. Virtus also had much better contributions from its bench, 49 points compared to Lokomotiv's 15.

Did you know?

Gamble pulled down 10 offensive rebounds, the most in the competition since Leo Lyons of Budivelnik did the same in a game against Triumph Lyubertsy on January 16, 2013. He was 1 rebound shy of the all-time record; Chris Anstey of Ural Great pulled down 11 offensive boards against BCM Gravelines on October 29, 2002.

Next game

Both teams return to EuroCup action next week. Virtus visits MoraBanc Andorra on Tuesday, October 13. The next day, Lokomotiv visits Lietkabelis Panevezys.