2011-12Top 16Round 5
February 22, 2012 CET: 19:00
Local time: 19:00 BILBAO ARENA

Gescrap BB edged Montepaschi Siena 60-59

Gescrap BB improved its chances to reach the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Playoffs by edging Montepaschi Siena 60-59 in Top 16 Group F in Bilbao, Spain on Wednesday. Montepaschi dropped to 4-1 but is all but mathematically into the Playoffs. Gescrap improved to 3-2 in Group F and will clinch a Playoffs spot with another win or if Real Madrid loses any of its remaining Top 16 games. Raul Lopez became the man of the night with the game-winning jumper right at the buzzer. Marko Banic paced the winners with 16 points. Lopez added 15 while Alex Mumbru got 10 for Gescrap. Igor Rakocevic led Montepaschi with 14 points. Bo McCalebb added 12 while David Moss got 10 for the guests, that led 21-22 at halftime and boosted their margin to 43-47 with 6 minutes to go. Gescrap improved its defense and free throws by D'or Fischer and Lopez gave Gescrap a 58-56 lead with 13.9 seconds left. Rakocevic and Bootsy Thornton managed to put Montepaschi back ahead, 58-59, but Lopez stole the game with the game-winning shot, allowing a sellout crowd of almost 10,000 fans at Miribilla to celebrate one of the biggest wins in club history!

Moss got Montepaschi going with a bomb from downtown, as Gescrap went scoreless in the opening 2 minutes. A put-back layup by Thornton soon gave the guests a 0-5 lead. Mumbru stepped up with a one-handed running jumper but he didn't much help around early in the game. Stonerook buried a three-pointer, as the hosts brought Banic off the bench to improve its offense. Mumbru split free throws but no other Gescrap player scored in the opening 7 minutes. The hosts kept missing open shots but defense kept Gescrap alive and a dunk by Fischer brought his team within 5-8. Montepaschi had been scoreless for 5 minutes, missing its last 7 shots in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Fischer kept pacing Gescrap with an off-balance tip-in that sent the crowd to their feet at 7-8, after 10 minutes.

Montepaschi could not find the way to the basket and a layup by Banic gave Gescrap its first lead, 9-8, after a 6-0 run. Tomas Ress tried to change things with free throws, as Gescrap tried a new backcourt with Lopez and Roger Grimau together on court. Banic split foul shots and a circus shot by Lopez put Gescrap back ahead, 12-10. Rakocevic buried a six-meter shot and Ress did even better with a three-pointer that restored a 12-15 Montepaschi lead. Grimau shined with his trademark one-handed jumper that Marco Carrareto bettered with a bomb from downtown off a timeout. Banic stayed on fire with a layup and a three-pointer by Kostas Vasileadis forced Montepaschi to stop the game at 19-18. Rakocevic banked in a close shot that Vasileadis matched with free throws. A buzzer-beating layup by Rakocevic fixed the score at 21-22 as both teams headed back to the locker rooms.

McCalebb, who had been scoreless until now, shined with a reverse layup immediately after the break and free throws by Pietro Aradori gave Montepaschi a 21-25 edge. Gescrap struggled to score for more than 2 minutes until Banic hit an off-balance jump hook. McCalebb found space for an uncontested layup, as the game turned into a physical battle. Mumbru made free throws but a three-pointer by Stonerook gave Montepaschi some fresh air, 25-30. Banic rescued Gescrap with a layup-plus-foul and Lopez struck from downtown to send the crowd to their feet, 31-30. Montepaschi could not get Andersen involved but Aradori answered with a driving layup. Mumbru scored around the basket that Moss improved with a triple for a 33-35 score. Gescrap kept powering the boards and a power basket by Banic tied it at 35-35. Rakocevic followed an open jumper with free throws but Lopez hit foul shots and beat the buzzer with a fallaway jumper for a 39-39 tie after 30 minutes.

Rakocevic kept pacing Montepaschi with a baseline jumper early in the fourth quarter and Moss buried a five-meter shot for a 39-43 Montepaschi margin. Dimitrios Mavroeidis split free throws and a seven-meter bomb by Blums tied the game again, 43-43, with 7 minutes to go. Moss made foul shots and Ksistof Lavrinovic added a backdoor layup to restore a 43-47 Montepaschi lead. Banic scored in penetration and Mumbru added a layup off a wild spin move that made the guests call timeout at 47-47. A jump hook by Banic soon put Gescrap back ahead, 49-48. Montepaschi struggled to circulate the ball until McCalebb returned to the floor off a timeout. He shined with a driving layup but free throws by Mumbru and Fischer restored a 51-50 Gescrap edge with 2 minutes left. McCalebb silenced the crowd with a huge three-point play and Vasileadis split free throws for a 52-53 score. Andersen missed a five-meter jumper and Montepaschi fouled on Fischer, who made both attempts for a 54-53 Gescrap edge with 22.9 seconds left. McCalebb made 3-of-4 free throws and Lopez did even better for a 58-56 Gescrap lead with 13.9 seconds to go. Rakocevic split free throws and a Gescrap turnover allowed Thornton to give Montepaschi a 58-59 edge with 6.4 seconds left. It all came down to the final play, in which Lopez buried the game-winning shot at the buzzer, setting Bilbao Arena on fire and allowing Gescrap to get closer to the Euroleague Playoffs!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Euroleague.net
Referees: MUHVIC, DUBRAVKO; RYZHYK, BORYS; LOPES, LUIS
Attendance: 9922 (Tentative)
By Quarter1234
Gescrap Bilbao Basket7141821
Montepaschi Siena8141720
End of Quarter1234
Gescrap Bilbao Basket7213960
Montepaschi Siena8223959
Gescrap Bilbao Basket
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 FISHER, JOSH DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 JACKSON, AARON 25:14   0/4 0/2   2 1 3 1 2 2   1 2 2 -3
11 MAVROEIDIS, DIMITRIOS 9:51 1     1/2 1 3 4 1 1 1     2 2 5
13 BANIC, MARKO 34:06 16 7/13   2/3 4 4 8 1 2 2 1 1 1 3 20
15 MUMBRU, ALEX 28:54 10 3/8 0/5 4/6 1 2 3 2 1 3     2 6 5
17 HERVELLE, AXEL 9:03   0/2       1 1           1   -2
21 FISCHER, DOR 26:49 7 2/6   3/4 5 7 12 2   2 1   4 3 14
31 LOPEZ, RAUL 15:20 15 3/6 1/2 6/6   3 3 2   1     2 3 16
33 SAMB, MAMADOU DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
34 VASILEIADIS, KOSTAS 15:24 6 0/2 1/3 3/4 1 2 3     1     2 1 2
44 GRIMAU, ROGER 11:17 2 1/2     1 2 3 1 1       1 2 7
45 BLUMS, JANIS 24:02 3   1/6   2 1 3           1 1 1
Team             1 1               1
Totals 200:00 60 16/43 3/18 19/25 17 27 44 10 7 12 2 2 18 23 66
        37.2% 16.7% 76%
Head coach: KATSIKARIS, FOTIS
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
Montepaschi Siena
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 MCCALEBB, BO 24:23 12 4/9   4/5   1 1 1 3 2   1 4 5 9
6 ZISIS, NIKOS 15:53   0/1     1 1 2 3         1 1 4
7 ANDERSEN, DAVID 28:09   0/6 0/1   1 6 7 3   2     1 1 1
8 RAKOCEVIC, IGOR 26:37 14 5/8 0/2 4/7   3 3 1   3   1 2 4 8
9 CARRARETTO, MARCO 5:33 3   1/1                   1   2
11 THORNTON, BOOTSY 20:15 4 2/4 0/1   1 3 4   2       2   5
12 LAVRINOVIC, KSISTOF 10:07 2 1/2 0/1     3 3   1 1         3
14 RESS, TOMAS 13:19 5   1/3 2/2   3 3     1 1   2 1 5
18 LECHTHALER, LUCA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 STONEROOK, SHAUN 28:14 6 0/1 2/6     2 2     1 1   3 2 2
21 ARADORI, PIETRO 7:12 3 1/2   1/2 2   2           2 2 3
34 MOSS, DAVID 20:18 10 1/2 2/3 2/2   3 3           5 2 8
Team           1 2 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 59 14/35 6/18 13/18 6 27 33 8 6 11 2 2 23 18 52
        40% 33.3% 72.2%
Head coach: PIANIGIANI, SIMONE

Head Coaches

KATSIKARIS, FOTIS
Gescrap Bilbao Basket
"Fort the first time, the winning shot in a tight game is ours. The defense we played on players like Andersen was the key. It was an ugly game; we didn’t play our usual game, but we were focused for 40 minutes. We know we can play beautiful and make a higher score and also that we can win a low-scoring game. The first quarter was more of a handball game than a basketball one. I knew the last shot should be made by Raul. He has made these kinds of shots in every practice. The fans were important once again, the players know that."
PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
Montepaschi Siena
"It was a tough game; weird details can decide a game. There are so many things that are difficult to understand for me, but this is basketball. We are in a good position for our qualification, so this is the most important thing for us. The last game is difficult, because Real Madrid is a great team, but we can do it. I’m not going to say anything about my players, because they put everything into this game. We had less than one practice to prepare the game, to come here and to change the team completely. We normally play games to 80 points. We have injured players, but we fought until the last shot."

Players

LOPEZ, RAUL
Gescrap Bilbao Basket
"It’s a game anyone could have won, but we had the luck this time. The winning shot was mine, but this is not the important thing here, the most important thing is that we won and we are closer to the playoffs. We hadn’t played in 10 days and we weren’t focused, but they played the cup in Italy. It was so hard in defense for both teams. We are not thinking about the next Euroleague game against Unicaja and not even about Real Madrid against Unicaja; we have to be focused on our league and enjoy this big win."
RAKOCEVIC, IGOR
Montepaschi Siena
"Both teams played excellent defense, our defensive system is so strong, but Bilbao showed us they have players who can play high level defense. Bilbao’s tall players were our problem. The game could have been a win for us too, but Raul made an excellent basket on the winning shot. They are going to make it to the quarter final playoffs. We know we have an advantage in our game against Real Madrid because the basket average is high, so we are not worried at all. Anyway these kinds of games are dangerous because Real Madrid is a great team. For sure the Italian Cup made us be tired with so many games and trips."
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