Mornar eliminates Fiat in thriller, 86-83.

A thrilling battle at the bottom of Group D went the way of the hosts on Tuesday as Mornar Bar downed undermanned Fiat Turin 86-83. Mornar raised its record to 2-5 to stay in the Top 16 race. Fiat, again with just seven players due to injuries, was eliminated, falling to 0-7 with its fifth defeat by 7 points or less. In his first game for Mornar, forward Landing Sane shined with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Antabia Waller followed with 18 points, Bronson Koenig with 15 – including 4 perfect free throws in the final 13 seconds – and Bobby Brown, another new signing, with 11. Turin got 24 points and 8 rebounds from Victor Rudd, 17 and 10 from Jamil Wilson, 13 from Giuseppe Poeta and 12 from Tyshawn Taylor.

Rudd and Waller filled most of an early 8-8 tie but it was Rudd who kept it going for an 11-17 Fiat edge that held up at 20-21 after 10 minutes. Sane heated up quickly with a run of 10 points as the hosts pushed ahead by 41-32, but his attempted buzzer-beater before halftime was a fraction late and Mornar went to the lockers with a 45-40 advantage. Fiat slowed the pace and drew within 50-47 after halftime as Taylor started scoring. Koenig responded for Mornar before Sane returned with a triple to make it 65-60 after three quarters. Marco Portannese got Fiat within 66-64 but Sane drilled a big three as the Mornar lead ballooned to 76-67. Wilson lowered it to 80-77 in the final minute, before Waller's drifting jumper fell for Mornar and Carr buried a corner triple at 82-80 with 21 seconds left. Rudd drilled from the same corner for an 84-83 score with 4.2 seconds left but Koenig's free throws made sure that the victory stayed in Bar.

Landing takes off

Among several new faces on both rosters, Mornar forward Landing Sane took off fastest, coming off the bench for 15 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals in the first half alone – even when his buzzer-beating three-pointer to finish it was ruled late by a fraction of a second! Sane, who had played 38 previous 7DAYS EuroCup games with Paris Levallois and Reggio Emilia, finished with four career highs: points (23), rebounds (10), offensive rebounds (6) and performance index rating (30).

Key stat

With Fiat missing centers James McAdoo and Marco Cusin, the hosts took advantage by pulling down 19 offensive rebounds, the third-highest total in the EuroCup this season. Sane had 6 and competition co-leader Uros Lukovic had 4.

Fiat's feistiness

Mornar coach Mihailo Pavicevic used 10 players for 13 minutes or more, and his team ran a lot early to try to tire out Fiat. That's because visiting coach Larry Brown had only seven senior players, and his five starters all logged 31 minutes of more. Nonetheless, Fiat was in striking distance on the road all the way to the finish.

Next round

Mornar hits the road to face 2017 7DAYS EuroCup champion Unicaja Malaga in Round 8. Fiat will try to get its first victory at home against already-qualified UNICS Kazan.