Virtus shrugs off slow start to stay undefeated

Segafredo Virtus Bologna came back from an early deficit to run away with an 87-72 home victory over MoraBanc Andorra to remain perfect in Group A of the 7DAYS EuroCup. Virtus trailed by 11 points after 10 minutes but gave up just 21 points in the middle two quarters to pick up its second straight home win for a 3-0 record. Julian Gamble paced five Virtus scorers in double figures with 19 points, while Milos Teodosic tallied 15 points and 8 assists, Frank Gaines had 11 points and both Filippo Baldi Rossi and Stefan Markovic scored 10 points. Clevin Hannah led Andorra with 15 points and David Jelinek chipped in 10 points in the loss, which dropped the team to 1-2.

Andorra started on fire with 3 straight three-pointers - 2 by Hannah - for a 3-9 lead. The hosts stepped up the defense and went on a 7-0 spurt with 6 points from Gamble to lead 10-9. Hannah hit another triple with Jeremy Senglin, Dejan Todorovic and Jelinek all draining threes for a 16-27 advantage. It was 17-28 after 10 minutes. Markovic started the second quarter with a three-pointer for Virtus and Nacho Llovet was able to knock down another at the other end to keep Andorra up 23-31. But Gamble continued to dominate with two more baskets and Gaines’s three put the hosts up 32-31. Frantz Massenat pushed Andorra back ahead only to see Teodosic come up with a layup and three-pointer for a 43-38 lead at the break. Bologna continued to work hard on defense and a 6-2 spurt had the hosts up 49-42. Hannah was able to knock down another triple, but Gamble answered with two more baskets and a block and Baldi Rossi’s threes increased the Virtus advantage to 64-49 after 30 minutes. Gaines drained a three to start the fourth, but Andorra did not give up, with Jelinek scoring 5 points in cutting the gap to 69-57 with under 7 minutes to play. But Markovic and Kyle Weems both hit from downtown for a 77-61 cushion with 4 minutes to play. Teodosic nailed a pair of three-pointers of his own to make it 83-68 with just over a minute to play to decide the game.

Pivotal performer

Milos Teodosic was slow to start scoring, but he was there all game as he scored 15 points to go with 3 rebounds, 8 assists and 1 block - nailing 3 three-pointers along the way.

One quarter does not a game make

Andorra shot a blistering 7-of-9 from three-point range in the first quarter. But the road team made just 4 of 18 three-pointers the rest of the way to finish with a 40.7 shooting percentage from behind the arc.

Telling numbers

Virtus connected on 57.9% of its two-point shots and dished out 23 assists while holding Andorra to 39.5% inside the three-point line and forcing 16 turnovers.

Next games

Virtus aims to make it four for four as it heads to Greece to face Promitheas Patras on October 22. Andorra has lost both road games thus far and it faces another test away from home, taking on Maccabi Rishon LeZion in Israel on October 22.