Montepaschi routed Galatasaray Medical Park 103-77

Montepaschi Siena led from start to finish as it whipped Galatasaray Medical Park 103-77 on Wednesday to take its Group D record to 3-0. Rimantas Kaukenas completed a near-perfect shooting night with 24 points and BoMcCalebb added 19 and 4 assists to lead Montepaschi, which made 10 of 18 three-pointers (55.6%). The hosts raced out to a 14-3 start. Galatasaray came back and got within 7 in the second half before Kaukenas, Pietro Aradori and McCalebb put the Italian champs up 50-37 at the half. And any hope of a Galatasaray comeback was dashed by David Moss, who drilled back-to-back triples early in the second half to take the lead into the 20+ point range. David Andersen added 13 points and Aradori finished with 11 for the winners. Luksa Andric scored 12, Ender Arslan 11 and Preston Shumpert and Josh Shipp netted 10 each for Galatasaray, which dropped to 1-2 in the standings.

Andersen and Kaukenas broke the ice for Montepaschi, before a Shipp three-point play. Shaun Stonerook connected from downtown and soon McCalebb put his speed on display after a strip of Andric as he darted to the basket for a three-point play to make it 12-3. A Galatasaray time out changed little as David Moss scored on the offensive glass to take the lead to double figures. Arslan carved up the Siena defense to end the visitors’ drought, but McCalebb and Andersen played together to perfection to get points on the next two possessions. Shumpert’s basket was bettered by Bo from downtown to put 20-7 on the scoreboard. A slick Arslan pass to Furkan Aldemir for a three-point play gave Galatasaray hope. The visitors got their offense going with points coming from Jamon Lucas and Shumpert, but there was no stopping Siena. Ksistof Lavrinovic scored 6 points in the last minute-and-a-half of the quarter to end it at 30-16.

Andric made a strong move to the basket for a three-point play at the start of the second quarter. The teams started to trade points, with Igor Rakocevic coming on for Montepaschi. Andric’s strong night continued with a nifty move to get within 34-25. Tomas Ress created space for himself and threw down a monster two-hand jam, however Shumpert and Darius Songalia answered with points of their own. Andersen and Rakocevic scored from the line as Montepaschi remained comfortably ahead. It seemed as it the momentum had shifted after Shipp rejected Stonerook, who was quickly slapped with a technical foul for arguing. Lakovic converted the free throws to make it 40-33. But that was as close as it would get. Kaukenas scored 5 straight including a triple, Aradori added another score and McCalebb finished the half with a triple for a 50-37 halftime lead.

A Kaukenas jumper a triple by Ress extended the lead to 18. Andric got a basket back for Galatasaray, but Moss connected on back-to-back triples to push the lead past 20. McCalebb and Andersen completed a 10-0 run before Songalia retaliated. Ress added another three as the lead started to climb out of control. Aldemir added to his tally and Shipp got another basket. Arslan added a triple from the corner, but that only brought Galatasaray within 76-54 at the end of the quarter.

Aldemir closed the gap to 20 early in the fourth quarter, but Shumpert was called for an unsportsmanlike foul after stopping Stonerook on the break. And after 4 free throws between Stonerook and McCalebb, it was 80-56. Galatasaray never quit and managed to take the deficit down through an Arslan three and an Aldemir slam. However Kaukenas got hot and was joined by Aradori as the hosts made sure to finish the night in style. Aradori rainbowed a three to take the hosts past the 100-point mark with more than a minute to go en route to a 26-point victory.