ALBA wins its fourth straight

ALBA Berlin remained in a share of the first place in Group B with a hard-fought 68-72 road win over the winless Enel Basket Brindisi. This is fourth consecutive win for ALBA which improved to 4-1 record, while newcomer Brindisi is at 0-5. Dragan Milosavljevic scored 18 points to pace the visitors which grabbed control of the game with a strong fourth quarter, but could not pull away. Brindisi took 63-62 lead late in the fourth quarter, but ALBA’s defense did not allow a field goal for almost 5 minutes at the very end, helping the team prevail. Kresimir Loncar contributed with 12 points, Elmedin Kikanovic had 11, while Jordan Taylor scored 10 points with 5 assists in victory. Adrian Banks and Durand Scott had 14 apiece for the hosts. Scott Reynolds scored 11 and Djordje Gagic 10 in defeat.

Gagic and Reynolds got Brindisi going in the opening minutes, helping it reach 11-4 lead. A pair of baskets from Kikanovic cut it to 13-9. Kikanovic and Gagic traded scores, and so did ALBA’s Taylor and Scott of Brindisi. A put-back from Jonas Wohlfarth cut it to 19-17, but Scott’s basket just before the first quarter buzzer gave Brindisi 22-17 after 10 minutes. ALBA opened the second quarter with a 0-10 run, sparked by Milosavljevic and with back-to-back triples from Alex King and Kresimir Loncar. Reynolds and Milosavljevic traded buckets, making it 24-29, before Milosavljevic hit a pair of triples to help increase the margin to 30-37. Mitchell Watt made it a 9-point contest, before free throws from Reynolds made it 32-39 at halftime.

Reynolds and Scott cut it to 37-41, but Loncar, Kikanovic and Milosavljevic kept ALBA in front, extending it to 39-48. But Banks and Andrea Zerini combined to score 7 points, getting Brindisi within 46-48. Loncar made a timely basket for ALBA, Watt followed it with a three-pointer, and after Alex Harris had a three-point play for the hosts, Milosavljevic ended the quarter with a triple, 51-57. Will Cherry extended the lead to 8 points after a minute of play in the fourth. Nemanja Milosevic and Taylor traded triples, before Scott, Milosevic and Banks put together an 8-0 run, capped with a fastbreak basket from Banks, 63-62. But Taylor replied with a triple for ALBA, and King added a three of his own, 65-68. With under two minutes to go, Kikanovic scored to give the visitor 66-71, as the hosts were held without a field goal for more than 4 minutes, and ALBA held on to a valuable road win.