Telindus Oostende took a monster step in Group F by going on the road to beat Fortitudo Beghelli 76-89 in a 40-minute show of dominance in Bologna, Italy on Tuesday. With the victory, Oostende reached a three-way tie for first place with Red Star and Dynamo Moscow, all of whom have 2-1 records. Fortitudo, meanwhile, fell to 1-2 alongside CEZ Nymburg and
Panellinios. Veselin Petrovic led the winners with 19 points, while
four of his teammates also reached double-digit scoring: Jerry Green with
17, Titus Ivory with 14, Elvir Ovcina with 12 and Chuck Davis with
10. Fortutido captain Stefano Mancinelli had 20 points in the losing effort,
Horace Jenkins added 17 points and Kristaps Janicenoks scored 13 off
the bench. After traling by as many as 15 points, the home team tried
to come back in the closing quarter but Sam Van Rossom hit his only
three-pointer of the night to stop the run and help Oostende win a game in which it trailed only in the first seconds.
Oostenda stepped on court without any fear as it reacted to
Tomasz Kesicki’s opening dunk for Fortitudo. Ovcina, Green and Van
Rossom’s leadership built a 2-13 run that sent the guests up by
4-13 after 5 minutes. Against Oostende's zone defense, Dalibor Bagaric helped Fortitudo revive itself with a pair of
foul shots and an assist that Dante Calabria converted for a three-
pointer at 9-15. Oostende got the
last spur of the quarter, however, as Ivory and Ovcina’s turnaround
jumpers fixed an 11-20 score after 10 minutes.
Jenkins and James Thomas opened the second quarter by helping Fortitudo
come closer, 17-22. Oostende went back to Ovcina and he answered
with consecutive baskets before Chris McCray dunked and hit a
wide-open three-pointer to make it 19-33. Jenkins, Mancinelli and Janicenoks made it closer, 32-38, but in the half's closing minute Oostende found a put-back basket
by Davis before Dalibor Bagaric beat the buzzer with a jumper that made it 36-42 at intermission.
Oostende made the things clearer in the third quarter. Green had 9
points in five minutes after capping a 2-8 Oostende run to start the
quarter. The guests soon reached a game-high 15-point lead after Green and Ovcina added buckets to make it 50-65. A flagrant
foul revived Fortitudo, which found four points in
a row and a buzzer-beater by Mancinelli to set a 57-67 score after 30
minutes.
After Ivory made it 59-70 with a three-pointer, Fortitudo exploited a
flagrant-foul and a technical foul to come back within 6 points, 64-70, with
7 minutes to play. Van Rossom's key triple gave the guests a breath and
Ivory added free throws to rebuild a double-digit lead at 70-80 for Oostende on the way to its unforgettable road win in Bologna.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
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