Despite trailing during the first 20 minutes, BC FMP managed to come back and finally take a solid road win at Snaidero Udine by 82-88 on Tuesday night. The great offensive performance by Zoran Erceg, who scored 24 points, allowed FMP to react in the second half and when the guests forged a slim lead, they maintained it until the final buzzer. The win allows FMP to reach the middle of the regular season as leader of Group B with a 4-1 record, while Snaidero drops to 2-3. Both teams combined for 20 triples in the game as Branko Cvetkovic added 19 points for the winners, Dragan Labovic had 15 and Aleksandar Rasic posted 11. For Udine, Larry O'Bannon posted 24 points and Damond Williams helped with 13.
Larry O'Bannon opened the scoring with a bomb from downtown, but after a Jacobs Jaacks turnover, FMP opened its scoring column thanks to Dragan Labovic. Jaacks mended his error with a new three for 6-2, a three-point play by O'Bannon helped the hosts pull away by 11-2. Bojan Krstovic and Branko Cvetkovic finally launched FMP with 5 straight points, but O'Bannon reached his 9th point with a new triple for a 17-7. A 0-8 burst for FMP capped by Zoran Erceg allowed the guests to pull within 17-15. Silvio Gigena broke the spell for Snaidero, and Kristaps Valters soon added a three to make it 22-16 again in minute 9. A new basket by Valters closed the first period with a 25-19 edge for Snaidero. The hosts' sixth triple fell in from Gigena's hands to launch Udine to a 30-19 lead starting the second quarter. Partick Mutombo and Erceg exchanged triples again in a shootout, with Udine maintaining the diference on 36-27. Despite their 7 turnovers, the hosts managed to stay ahead thanks to the points from the long distance. Erceg fought hard and was up to 16 points to maintain FMP on the trail, and when Rasic hit a new three the guests pulled within 48-44, the result which showed on the scoreboard at the halftime break.
The second half started with FMP getting as close as one point, and the guests even jumped ahead when Cvetkovic hit a free throw for 50-51. However, a triple-plus-free throw by Michele Antonutti allowed the hosts to take control again, 56-51. Two more free throws by Milos Teodosic however, tied the game again at 58-58, and another free throw by him gave FMP a 3-point lead, 60-63, but Antonutti blasted Udine's 10th triple of the night to tie again. It was in the last minute of the third period however, that FMP forged a 0-5 run capped by free throws from Erceg to make it 65-69 after 30 minutes. O'Bannon reached his 20th point with two free throws to open the last quarter, but defenses were stronger now and the players, knowing the decisive quarter was underway, didn't take as many risks with the long shots now. Cvetkovic and Andrew Wisniewski traded baskets to make it 70-73 as FMP succeeded in maintaining the slim margin, however O'Bannon hit a lethal bomb from the arc to tie at 73-73 with 4 minutes to go. Cvetkovic found some space to hit a new triple, the game's 20th, to lift FMP to a 75-79 edge. Rasic added a free throw to make it 75-81 as the game entered the last minute. Damond Williams replied fast for Snaidero, but he was matched by Erceg, and when Labovic added a jumper to that, FMP pulled away for good and sealed a valuable road win.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
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