Janning shoots Siena to maiden Last 32 victory

Montepaschi Siena earned its first win in Group K of the Eurocup Last 32 by easing past Maccabi Haifa Bazan 92-73. Matt Janning drained 7 three-pointers en route to 34 points to lead Siena, which improved to 1-3. Joshua Carter added 17 points and Marquez Haynes had 14. Haifa dropped to 2-2 despite Moran Roth scoring 18 points. Brian Randle chipped in 15 points and 8 rebounds, Donta Smith had 14 points and Ido Kozikaro 11.

There were three early lead changes until Siena’s 6-0 run opened a 10-5 lead. Carter knocked down back-to-back triples to make it 16-7 and Erick Green had the cushion at 23-11. The hosts led 28-17 after 10 minutes. Siena opened the second quarter with six straight points and then Janning knocked down two three-balls as the advantage grew to 44-21. Haifa cut the lead down to 17 points but the score was 47-29 at the break. Roth scored the first five points in Haifa’s 0-9 start to the second half to make it 47-38. Haynes finally got Montepaschi on the board four minutes into the quarter and combined with Janning for all 13 points in a 13-4 surge for a 60-42 advantage. The margin was 63-48 after three quarters. Montepaschi went on a 9-2 spurt early in the fourth quarter to increase the cushion to 74-52. Bazan responded with a 0-8 run to trim the deficit to 74-60 with 4:30 minutes remaining. But Janning scored eight points with two treys and Carter also hit from long range to make it 85-63 with less than three minutes to play and decide the game.