2006-07Regular SeasonRound 4
November 21, 2006 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 PALAESTRA

Montepaschi topped Lukoil Academic Sofia 77-63 to take sole possession of first place in Group C on Tuesday night in Siena, Italy. Lonny Baxter had 18 points and 12 rebounds to lead Montepaschi, which improved to 3-1. Lukoil dropped to 2-2, joining Alba Berlin, Khimki and Telindus Oostende in a four-way tie for second. Romain Sato scored 11 during a 13-0 third-quarter run as Montepaschi took control of the game and Lukoil never got closer than 7 the rest of the way. Sato finished with 14, Rimantas Kaukenas had 13 and 4 steals and Joseph Forte tallied 11 and 5 assists. Lamont Jones led Lukoil with 17, Todor Stoykov and Riste Stefanov added 13 each, Taliek Brown 11 and Gjorgji Cekovski grabbed 13 rebounds.

Montepaschi started strong behind a Shaun Stonerook triple and Baxter, who ruled the paint, as the hosts took a 7-3 lead. Lukoil stormed back with a pair of scores from Stoykov and a Stefanov triple that made it 11-10. Lukoil's backcourt was very active and the Stoykov/Stefanov duo carried the visitors to 15-18. The Bulgarian champs increased the advantage to 6 when Brown scored a three-point play, but Forte had the last word in the first quarter, sinking a triple to make it 18-21. Terrell McIntyre came into the game with a precious steal, which opened the way for a impressive dunk by Stonerook. Then Benjamin Eze swatted a shot and added a basket-plus-foul on the other end to put the hosts back on top. Kaukenas fueled an 11-0 run with a three-point shot, but Jones helped Lukoil remain in the picture His tough play included attacking the paint before a layup from Georgi Davidov closed the second quarter at 35-31.

After some missed shots, Sato got going with a jumper, then Eze stole a ball at mid-court and threw down a terrible double-handed dunk to take a 39-32 lead. Sato was really on fire and he added 9 points in a row, giving to the hosts a 50-35 advantage. Lukoil tried not to give up and Cekovski fired from downtown, but the visitors suffered near the rim from the play of unstoppable Baxter, who kept the advantage in double figures. Montepaschi’s big men took important offensive rebounds, which allowed the 57-43 corner triple by Kaukenas at the end of the third quarter. Sofia came back with a zone defense and Brown drilled the layup. Otherwise Montepaschi found the way to be efficient with the 3-2 too and in a while rolled over on the 66-48 raining from downtown with Kaukenas and Forte. It’s the topical break which allowed Siena a new home win.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Stefano Sensi, Siena
No results found.
Referees: BIRICIK, MURAT; LEPETIC, NIKOLA; HERLT, OLIVER
Attendance: 5400
By Quarter1234
Montepaschi18172220
Lukoil Academic21101220
End of Quarter1234
Montepaschi18355777
Lukoil Academic21314363
Montepaschi
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 FORTE, JOSEPH 26:00 11 2/9 2/3 1/2 1 1 2 5 1 1     1 1 9
5 MCINTYRE, TERRELL 23:00   0/1 0/6     3 3 6 1       1   2
6 BAXTER, LONNY 23:00 18 8/13   2/6 6 6 12   1 2     4 3 19
7 BOISA, VLADIMER 16:00 7 2/5 0/1 3/4 2 1 3   1   1     2 9
8 EZE, BENJAMIN 16:00 5 2/2   1/1 1 5 6   3   2   3 1 14
9 CARRARETTO, MARCO 7:00   0/2 0/1             1   1     -5
10 SATO, ROMAIN 26:00 14 5/7 0/2 4/5 1 2 3 1 1 1     2 4 15
11 DATOME, LUIGI 7:00 3   1/2               1   4   -1
12 D'ERCOLE, LORENZO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 KAUKENAS, RIMANTAS 31:00 13 1/5 3/4 2/4 1 3 4 3 4 2     3 6 18
18 LECHTHALER, LUCA 1:00                         2   -2
20 STONEROOK, SHAUN 24:00 6 1/2 1/2 1/2 2 7 9   3     1 2 1 13
Team                   1           1
Totals 200:00 77 21/46 7/21 14/24 14 28 42 15 16 7 4 2 22 18 92
        45.7% 33.3% 58.3%
Head coach: PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
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
Lukoil Academic
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 JONES, LAMONT 35:30 17 4/8 2/5 3/3   2 2 2 1 3 1 1 3 4 13
6 BARNES, LAMONT 14:00   0/3   0/2 1 3 4 2   1 1   4 1 -2
7 STEFANOV, RISTE 29:00 13 3/4 2/4 1/3 1 5 6   2 2     4 3 13
9 CEKOVSKI, GJORGJI 37:00 5 1/4 1/6 0/2 3 10 13   2 2   2 2 2 6
10 DAVIDOV, GEORGI 3:15 2 1/2     1 1 2         1     2
13 VELIKOV, ASEN 0:30                              
14 MLADENOV, BOYKO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 STOYKOV, TODOR 32:00 13 3/5 1/4 4/4 1 1 2     2     3 3 8
20 SKELIN, MATE 25:45 2 0/4   2/4 4 4 8 1   3     2 4 4
23 BROWN, TALIEK 23:00 11 4/6 0/1 3/9 1 3 4 2 2         5 15
Team           2 1 3     2         1
Totals 200:00 63 16/36 6/20 13/27 14 30 44 7 7 15 2 4 18 22 60
        44.4% 30% 48.1%
Head coach: DOKUZOVSKI, MARIN
This game has no play by play yet

Head Coaches

PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
Montepaschi
"I’m really satisfied for this home victory and for the behaviour all the team showed on the court. We made some mistakes, we missed some free throws, but the most important thing for us has been the capability to come back on the court after the road game in Cantu and play a different kind of match. We played a good and team defense, forcing them to fire a 1 of 7 from downtown in the first half. Then we made the break increasing the pace. I would like to say we really played as a team choosing good open shots."
DOKUZOVSKI, MARIN
Lukoil Academic
"Everybody knew it was really a tough game for us. Siena is a great team with many talented players. We’ve been nervous since the beginning. In my opinion the key was on the defense where Montepaschi played hard blocking our offensive plays. We missed many free throws and if we had made some of them, we could have also a diferent result tonight. I don’t want to look for some apologies. We need to adapt to the ULEB Cup. I would like to make all my compliments to Siena which deserved this home victory."

Players

DATOME, LUIGI
Montepaschi
"The key has been our defense. We obliged them to low shooting percentage, allowing only a few open shots."
FORTE, JOSEPH
Montepaschi
"We found the good rhythm in the second half. We played as a team and when we play like that it’s very tough to beat us."
JONES, LAMONT
Lukoil Academic
"Every time you go on the road it’s difficult to play and if you want to come out with a win you need to play ten times better than at home. We weren’t prepared tonight to play such a tough game."
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