2002-03Regular SeasonRound 1
October 10, 2002 CET: 00:00
Local time: 00:00 PALAVERDE

One of the teams considered a favorite to go far this Euroleague season, Benetton Treviso, confirmed its candidacy on Thursday with a 94-73 runaway win against visiting Pau-Orthez in Group A. The newest shootist to land in Treviso, Trajan Langdon, paced the victory with 24 points, including 4 of 7 three-pointers, while pickung up 4 of Benetton's 28 steals. His running mate, Tyus Edney, had 21 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, while forward Marcelo Nicola hit for 17 points and big man Jorge Garbajosa gathered 12 rebounds and 6 steals. Pau was up for a battle through the early second half, but apart from veteran center Rod Sellers, could not keep up with Benetton. Sellers finished with 30 points and 15 rebounds, while Kyle Hill put up 14 points for Pau.

To start the game without the height and talent of injured Cyril Julian and Michael Pietrus, the French champions were obliged to play hard defence against one of the most prolific team in Europe. And they did, quite well. Benetton would play so fluid and fast as they like and Edney had to finalize possessions himself after finding all other corners of the court well covered. The one local break, to 11-7 after 4 minutes, soon vanished with Boris Diaw outfiring Mario Stojic during a nice duel between two of the most interesting young European shooters. The bench also gave confidence to Pau. Dragan Lukovski drove past Massimo Bulleri as he was not able to do against Edney and suddenly it was Pau ahead, 13-16, after 7 minutes. Benetton captain Riccardo Pittis moves forward to close the gap and put Benetton 3 points ahead after 10 min., 24-21.

Benetton coach Ettore Messina decided between quarters to line up Bulleri and Edney together. The idea paid off immediatly as the home team shot ahead 35-23 in little more than a minute. Edney unchained and Nicola sniping from the three-point line were the killer combo. Pau had it tough inside. Rod Sellers was rebounding but receives few balls through the packed-in Benetton defense. Kyle Hill was being followed by Trajan Langdon, too, but Pau was able to nibble at the deficit until cutting it in half at 31-38 after 16 minutes. Sellers had plenty to do with that, using his experience against youngster Kresimir Loncar. Things just kept getting better for the visitors until the scoreboard lights flashed 38-38, a whole new ballgame. But only for a short time: Langdom, Edney and Nicola fired up a new Benetton lead, by 7 points, and though Pau reacted some, the home team was able to go into the dressing room with 4 points inside its pocket: 45-41.

Sellers remained a protagonist at the beginning of the third quarter, drawing Denis Marconato's fourth foul. But Treviso held tight its defense, and two Langdon steals sent Benetton on a new breakaway, to 57-48 midway through the third quarter. Pau refused to surrender, as Sellers sent Nicola as well to the bench with 4 fouls. Messina replies with a small, speedy lineup to ratchet up the pressure, and it worked again. Benetton led 64-49 when Pau coach Fred Sarre chose a zone to overturn the script. That didn't work: Benetton held the edge at 70-55 as Langdon was unstoppable from the perimeter. Sellers was too alone at that point, while Hill and Lukovski could not spark a backcourt resurgence for the visitors. The fourth quarter was dedicated to showtime, with the lead hitting 20 points, 85-65, halfway through. Benetton proved to its fans it is ready for a top role in this Euroleague, too, while Pau Orthez waits to see if its talent matures in time to get in the win column in Group C.

Thursday, October 10, 2002
Luigi Maffei, Treviso
No results found.
Referees: RAMOS, MATEO; KOROMILAS, KOSTAS; DOZAI, SRDAN
Attendance: 2586
By Quarter1234
Benetton Treviso24212524
Pau-Orthez21201418
End of Quarter1234
Benetton Treviso24457094
Pau-Orthez21415573
Benetton Treviso
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 NICOLA, MARCELO 25:00 17 3/5 3/9 2/2 1 3 4 3 2     1 4 1 14
5 EDNEY, TYUS 30:00 21 6/11 1/2 6/7 2 3 5 5 2 3     1 7 29
6 LANGDON, TRAJAN 29:00 24 6/10 4/7         1 4       3   19
7 PITTIS, RICCARDO 21:00 9 4/5   1/1 1   1   4 2     2 2 11
8 MARCONATO, DENIS 12:00 8 3/3   2/2   1 1 1 2   1 1 5 2 9
9 BULLERI, MASSIMO 24:00 4 2/4 0/4     1 1 3 2 2   1 1 1 1
10 MARKOISHVILI, MANUCHAR 3:00   0/1             1     1     -1
11 STOJIC, MARIO 14:00     0/2     3 3 1   1     1 1 1
12 NEMETH, ISTVAN 4:00     0/2     1 1     1         -2
13 LONCAR, KRESIMIR 4:00 2 1/1                     2    
15 GARBAJOSA, JORGE 32:00 9 1/3 1/4 4/5 3 9 12 1 6 4 1   3 9 25
16 STEFFEL, DAVID 2:00           1 1               1
Team             4 4     1         3
Totals 200:00 94 26/43 9/30 15/17 7 26 33 15 23 14 2 4 22 23 110
        60.5% 30% 88.2%
Head coach: MESSINA, ETTORE
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
Pau-Orthez
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 FAUTHOUX, FREDERIC 11:00     0/3     1 1 1   3     2   -6
5 LUKOVSKI, DRAGAN 29:00 9 2/7 1/4 2/6       3 4 7     4 5 -2
6 GAYON, NICOLAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 DROZDOV, ARTUR 11:00 2 1/2 0/2 0/2 1 2 3     1     1 2  
9 DUBOS, FABIEN 21:00 6 2/6 0/1 2/2 2 2 4 1 1 6 1   3 1  
11 PIETRUS, FLORENT 19:00 9 1/3 1/2 4/5 1 4 5   1   1   5 3 10
12 HILL, KYLE 36:00 14 0/4 4/7 2/2 2 6 8   4 4   1 2 2 14
13 DIAW, BORIS 33:00 3 1/2   1/1   8 8 6 3 2 1   2 2 18
14 PEJCINOVIC, DAVOR 6:00           1 1     1 1       1
15 SELLERS, ROD 34:00 30 12/19   6/8 8 7 15     4   1 4 7 34
16 VARGA, MLADEN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           1 1 2               2
Totals 200:00 73 19/43 6/19 17/26 15 32 47 11 13 28 4 2 23 22 71
        44.2% 31.6% 65.4%
Head coach: SARRE, FREDERIC
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

MESSINA, ETTORE
Benetton Treviso
"We paid for some tension at the beginning, when you play at home in the Euroleague everything is more difficult because you have much more pressure. Pau-Orthez was the toughest team we have faced so far this season, after a tricky beginning on the second half we stepped on the floor with much more confidence, and Trajan Langdon was the key player with his shots. In fact, we had a good start in Euroleague, but now we have to focus on the next matches, starting from the one we are going to play in Milan on Sunday and the one in Istanbul next week. We suffered a little bit more in the inside game, and Sellers played a great game for Pau: anyway, we got much more steals and as you can see, this was an important feature to get more easy shots and fastbreaks."
SARRE, FREDERIC
Pau-Orthez
"I knew that this would be a tough game, Treviso is a difficult place to play because you always feel great pressure, anyway this is a good experience for all of us, now we will try to learn from it and improve. Pau played a great game in the first half, thanks to our good attitude on the boards, but in the second part we were in trouble with Benetton's defense, and this is the reason why we lost."

Players

LANGDON, TRAJAN
Benetton Treviso
"Everything came easy in the second half, since we put more concentration on the floor, we took care about defense and we got steals, grabbed rebounds and had easy shots, this was definitely the key to win the game. What about my game? Oh, it was easy for me to take some good shots from outside, since my team mates began to move the ball in offense in the right way: this was a good impact for me in Europe, I saw a different kind of basketball but I found at ease also with the referees' decisions. The most important thing for us right now is to focus on the next games, and to put beyond this night."
SELLERS, ROD
Pau-Orthez
"This was my first game in Euroleague, I tried to do my best but I didn't manage to win tonight, and so I'm not really happy...I got so many shots, but this is our kind of basket, morevoer I gained much more experience about European basketball in the last years."
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