Prokom Trefl Sopot picked up the surprise of the night with a 77-91 win over Climamio Bologna
Prokom Trefl Sopot picked up the surprise of the night with a 77-91 win over Climamio Bologna on Wednesday night in Italy. The Polish champs' historic victory pushed Prokom record to 3-4, while Climamio fell to 1-6, practically ending its chances of advancing to the Top 16. The game was decided in the last five minutes as the visitors posted a 0-9 run, which erased a 75-74 Climamio lead. Adam Wojcik was the man of the night as he scored 20 point on 7-of-9 shooting, including 5 key points down the stretch. Tomas Masiulis added 12 points and Christian Dalmau and Rashid Atkins added 11 each for the guests. Climamio got 19 points each from Tyus Edney and James Thomas. Marco Belinelli added 13 points and David Bluthenthal 10 for the hosts, but the key player was Stefano Mancinelli, who fouled out with 3 minutes on the clock.
Climamio fed the ball inside to Thomas for the first basket of the game. Prokom got its first points from Masiulis's baseline cut. However the hosts surged to an early lead on an 8-0 run behind strong play by Bluthenthal and Edney. Prokom’s trouble was on offense as its shooters couldn’t free up space for center Huseyin Besok, who was being double-teamed inside. It was the big guys that finally scored from the perimeter, as Masiulis and Besok drained back-to-back threes to cut the lead to 12-10. Prokom tied the score when Justin Hamilton scored on backdoor and Donatas Slanina ran the fastbreak to make it 14-14. Besok gave the visitors their first lead at 15-16, but Thomas and Belinelli quickly restored Climamio's advantage. Prokom was running great now and Climamio’s defense struggle to handle it. The home team coach, Ergin Ataman, called to use fullcourt pressure that helped his team to two steals and gave Climamio a 25-20 lead after one quarter.
Masiulis opened the second quarter with a triple and Atkins's fastbreak tied the game at 25-25. Thomas's put-back dunk restored Climamio's advantage, but Prokom kept playing strong against man-to-man defense as Adam Wojcik scored a pick-and-pop jumper and Filip Dylewicz found an easy drive to make it 27-29. Mancinelli revived the guests as he landed a triple, stole twice and added a free throw to help Climamio stay ahead. Wojcik hit a three-pointer and Jeff Norgaard scored on a put-back to make it 35-36. The lead changed on almost each possession as Edney scored from inside while Wojcik, Preston Shumpert and Jasmin Hukic buried triples to make it 42-44 before the last possession. After a timeout, Edney pulled up for a desperate three-pointer that gave Climamio a 45-44 lead at halftime.
Edney’s drive got Climamio going in the second half, but Jasmin Hukic hit its second three to fix another tie, 47-47. Climamio tried to break the game with a basket-and-foul by Bluthenthal and a low-post move by Thomas, which made it 52-47. Free-throws by Edney and Bluthenthal gave the hosts an 8-point lead, before Hukic revived the guests. Edney, however, drove the lane and scored three the hard way and Thomas hit a jumper to build Climamio's biggest lead, 62-51. Prokom didn’t give up as Masiulis and Dalmau broke the drought and pulled the team within 64-58. After an offensive rebound that Shumpert converted into points, Atkins sank a huge triple and Michael Andersen scored from inside making it 66-63 with 10 minutes to play.
A pair of free-throws by Dalmau made it a 1-point, but Belinelli came off a pick to score his first triple, 69-65. But an amazing drive by Atkins and a corner triple from Dalmau gave Prokom the lead back at 69-70. Belinelli became Climamio's go-to-guy as he managed all the possessions now, scoring from the line and with drive. But Prokom replied via Wojcik and Andersen and set a 73-74 score with 5 minutes on the clock. Slanina’s in-and-out triple denied the guests a chance to break the game and free throws by Thomas made it 75-74. Tough defense by Prokom resulted in two steals as the guests posted the key run of the game. Andersen and Wojcik scored from the low post, Wojcik hit a jumper after Climamio missed triples and Hamilton added free throws, which made it 75-83 with one minute to play. Bluthenthal tried to trim the deficit with a long jumper, but Edney stepped out of bounds on the following possession and Atkins and Dalmau made free throws to secure Prokom's first road win of the season.
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Marco Martelli, Bologna