2011-12Regular SeasonRound 7
December 01, 2011 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 PALADESIO

Bennet Cantu held off Caja Laboral 71-68

In a dramatic game of improbable swings, Bennet Cantu squeaked past Caja Laboral 71-68 at the Pala Desio in Cantu, Italy, on Thursday night. The victory created a three-way tie at 4-3 atop Group A between Cantu, Caja Laboral and Fenerbahce Ulker, while three other teams are right behind at 3-4 – the tightest race after seven games in the history of the Turkish Euroleague Regular Season. The visitors looked unbeatable after they grabbed a 12-21 in the first quarter, but Cantu outscored its opponent 40-15 in the middle two quarters, then built further on that lead to take a seemingly unbeatable 64-43 lead with five minutes to go. But Caja Laboral outscored the hosts 7-25 from then on, a rally that ended in the final seconds with a steal by Andrea Cinciarini. The winners got 18 points from Gianluca Basile on 6-of-9 three-point shooting, 14 points from Nicolas Mazzarino and 8 from Denis Marconato. Mirza Teletovic led the losers with 24 points and Bran Oleson added 12.

Caja Laboral jumped out front with 7 points by Teletovic, including a bomb from downtown. Cantu got its first basket after three minutes to get on the board at 2-7. Fernando San Emeterio and Teletovic drained a triple each to stretch the lead to 2-13 as Cantu struggled to score. Marconato scored in the paint, then Mazzarino buried a three-pointer to cut the lead to 7-15. After San Emeterio hit a fall-away for 2 points, Cantu center Giorgi Shermadini banked in layup and foul shot to pull within 10-15. The next 6 points belonged to the visitors on Teletovic foul shots, a tip-in by Joey Dorsey and San Emeterio’s bank shot in the paint to end the quarter with Caja Laboral up 12-21.

Cinciarini knocked down a pair of layups to start the quarter, then Basile got all net from beyond the arc, as the hosts climbed back in, 16-21. Goran Dragic scored on a drive with a foul shot, then Brad Oleson buried a triple as Caja Laboral opened the lead again, 19-27. Cantu produced the next surge, scoring 9 points in a row, capped by a triple by Mazzarino, to take its first lead of the night at 28-27. The teams pushed the score to 30-30 with a minute to go, then Basile nailed a triple and Micov finished off a steal with a layup as Cantu took over the scoreboard, 35-30, to close the half.

Cantu continued where it left off, hitting the first 5 points of the third quarter on foul shots by Micov and another three-pointer by Mazzarino, to extend the lead to double-digits, 40-30. Teletovic drained a baseline jumper to give Caja Laboral its first basket in four minutes, slicing the lead to 40-32. Manu Markoishvili put in a rainbow jumper in the paint and then buried a laser from downtown to extend the lead to 45-32. After Pau Ribas hit a two-pointer for the visitors, Basile banked in a triple to open a 48-34 lead. A layup by Marcanato finished the third, as Cantu’s margin grew to 52-34.

Nemanja Bjelica came up with Caja Laboral’s first 7 points to open the final quarter, but Marconato knocked down a baseline jumper and a red-hot Basile came up with a trio of triples, ballooning the lead to 64-43. But then the visitors rallied with 14 straight points, led by three-pointers by Bjelica, Pablo Prigioni and Oleson, to reduce the difference to 64-54. A Shermadini dunk finally ended the burst, but Teletovic kept the comeback going with another triple to pull to 66-60 with 2:36 on the clock. Teletovic and Oleson added 4 free throws, which cut the lead to 67-64 as the clock ran down to just over one minute. After Maarten Leunen hit 2 free throws, Teletovic drilled another three-pointer from deep, and put the score at 69-67 with 27 seconds to go. Bjelica split free throws to put Caja Laboral at Cantu’s doorstep, 69-68, but a steal by Cinciarini ended the furious rally and gave Mazzarino an easy layup as Cantu eked out the win, 71-68.

Thursday, December 1, 2011
Euroleague.net
Referees: CHRISTODOULOU, CHRISTOS; BOLTAUZER, MATEJ; LOPES, LUIS
Attendance: 6004 (Tentative)
By Quarter1234
Bennet Cantu12231719
Caja Laboral219632
End of Quarter1234
Bennet Cantu12355271
Caja Laboral21303668
Bennet Cantu
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 LIGHTY, DAVID DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5 MICOV, VLADIMIR 28:52 6 2/5 0/4 2/2   3 3 2 2 2 1 1   3 7
8 ORTNER, BENJAMIN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 MARKOISHVILI, MANUCHAR 21:25 7 2/6 1/2   2 4 6 3   3       1 9
10 LEUNEN, MAARTEN 28:57 4 1/4 0/6 2/2 2 5 7 2   2   1 5 2 -2
11 MARCONATO, DENIS 20:22 8 4/6     3 7 10     2     3 1 12
12 MAZZARINO, NICOLAS 30:32 14 1/3 3/3 3/4   1 1 2   3     4 4 11
17 DIVIACH, MARCO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
19 SHERMADINI, GIORGI 19:38 8 2/3   4/5   4 4     1 1 1 3 5 11
20 CINCIARINI, ANDREA 29:16 6 3/7 0/1   1 1 2   2 1   2 2 2 2
25 ABASS, AWUDU DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
55 BASILE, GIANLUCA 20:58 18   6/9 0/2   2 2 2   1     1 3 18
Team           3 2 5               5
Totals 200:00 71 15/34 10/25 11/15 11 29 40 11 4 15 2 5 18 21 73
        44.1% 40% 73.3%
Head coach: TRINCHIERI, ANDREA
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
Caja Laboral
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 RIBAS, PAU 15:44 2 1/3       2 2 1         2 1 2
5 PRIGIONI, PABLO 23:52 3 0/1 1/4   1 3 4 5 1 1     3 2 7
9 DORSEY, JOEY 13:58 2 1/2     1 5 6   1   1   3 1 7
13 SERAPHIN, KEVIN 14:20   0/5     3 1 4     1 2   3 1 -2
15 MUSLI, DEJAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
19 SAN EMETERIO, FERNANDO 32:19 9 3/3 1/4     4 4 5 1 2     3 1 12
21 DRAGIC, GORAN 7:41 3 1/3 0/1 1/1       1   1     1 1  
22 HEURTEL, THOMAS 16:08 2 1/3 0/2     1 1         1     -2
24 OLESON, BRAD 22:27 12 1/4 2/2 4/4       2   1 1   2 3 12
33 TELETOVIC, MIRZA 34:15 24 3/7 4/8 6/8   3 3     2   1 3 6 17
44 BJELICA, NEMANJA 19:16 11 2/4 2/4 1/2   3 3 1 4 1 1   1 2 15
Team           1 2 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 68 13/35 10/25 12/15 6 24 30 15 7 10 5 2 21 18 70
        37.1% 40% 80%
Head coach: IVANOVIC, DUSKO

Head Coaches

TRINCHIERI, ANDREA
Bennet Cantu
"It was an amazing night with a great atmosphere and a palace full of people. We defeated a very good team and it was tough because in the last minutes Caja Laboral scored some difficult shots and came back in the game. The key to our victory was our defense; we permitted to Caja to score only 6 points in the third quarter."
IVANOVIC, DUSKO
Caja Laboral
"We started the match in the right way, but in the second and in the third quarter our defense was very bad and we permitted to Cantu to take a big advantage. In the last minutes we fought for the victory, but, honestly, we played bad in many moments of this game."

Players

MAZZARINO, NICOLAS
Bennet Cantu
“Now we’ve got a chance for the Top 16. We played against a big team and it was a great victory. The team played really well; everybody did their job. In the last minutes we had some problems, but we got the game.”
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