2006-07Regular SeasonRound 7
December 12, 2006 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 PALAESTRA

Hapoel Jerusalem shook things up in Group C with an 85-91 road win at Montepaschi Siena on Tuesday night. The win saw Hapoel improve to 3-4, joining Alba Berlin for fourth place. Montepaschi fell to 5-2, with both of its losses coming at Jerusalem's hands. Mario Austin led Hapoel with 19 points and 10 rebounds, but Meir Tapiro was the hero for Jerusalem with a clutch three-pointer and then a big assist to Timmy Bowers down the stretch. Bowers finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds, Tamar Slay added a season-high 14, Tapiro had 13 and 4 assists, Jurica Golemac 12 and 9 rebounds and Ed Cota scored 9 and grabbed 10 rebounds. Romain Sato led Montepaschi with 27 points and 8 rebounds in 26 minutes, while Joseph Forte had 15 and Lonny Baxter and Rimanatas Kaukenas had 9 each. Hapoel trailed by 10 points midway through the third quarter, but found its way back with Tapiro and Austin leading the charge.

Sato got off to a red-hot start with 5 early points, but Golemac, Cota and Austin put Hapoel on top 5-6. Ben Eze and Austin fought hard in the paint, pushing the play to the perimeter, where Shaun Stonerook's touch helped Siena build an 18-10 lead. Erez Marckovich tried to stop the run with a layup, but a pair of Sato triples gave the hosts a 26-17 advantage. Marckovich and Austin – the only two Hapoel players able to find the basket for several minutes – helped the visitors close the gap to 28-21 after 10 minutes. Bowers found his way to the basket to get Hapoel within 3 early in the second period, causing Montepaschi coach Simone Pianigiani to make some changes, bringing in teenager Luigi Datome, Baxter and Terrel McIntyre. The result was a 4-0 run, including a Datome dunk. Hapoel didn't gave up and answered through Slay, whose dunk put Jerusalem up 44-46. Aggressive 2-3 zone defenses saw a quiet end to the period, which Forte ended on the break to put Siena on top 52-48.

The second half started, like the first with fireworks, as Sato, Slay and McIntyre from downtown got things going. After a Tapiro basket, Eze's tip-in made it 61-53. Siena went to Stonerook and Eze inside as the hosts' lead reached double figures. Hapoel didn't wait to respond as Tapiro, playing with four fouls, made a triple and the foul to reduce the gap to 63-60. The up and down continued. Two spectacular Eze blocks and a Kaukenas triple put Siena up 72-67 after 30 minutes. Hapoel used a three-point barrage to tie the game and eventually go ahead. Pianigiani tried Sato at power forward, but a Kaukenas traveling call gave Hapoel the ball and the visitors used that to retake the lead. Montepaschi went scoreless for 3 minutes as Hapoel took a 75-79 lead. Sato's triple and Baxter inside brought the hosts within 1. Cota missed an open jumper and Siena took the lead. But Austin and then Tapiro with an incredible three-pointer with just over a minute left made it 83-86. Austin added two from the line and Tapiro set up Bowers for a short jumper as Jerusalem handed Siena its second defeat.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006
ULEBCup.com
No results found.
Referees: PITSILKAS, NIKOLAOS; ZAMOJSKI, JAKUB; RUTESIC, ZDRAVKO
Attendance: 4483
By Quarter1234
Montepaschi28242013
Hapoel Migdal21271924
End of Quarter1234
Montepaschi28527285
Hapoel Migdal21486791
Montepaschi
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 FORTE, JOSEPH 29:00 15 5/13 1/8 2/3 3 1 4 3 3 4     2 1 4
5 MCINTYRE, TERRELL 26:00 7 1/1 1/4 2/2 2 2 4 2 1 1     2 4 12
6 BAXTER, LONNY 13:15 9 4/7   1/2 2   2   3       2 2 10
7 BOISA, VLADIMER 11:00   0/1 0/1   1   1             1  
8 EZE, BENJAMIN 26:45 6 3/8     3 4 7   2 1 3   4 1 9
9 CARRARETTO, MARCO 10:00     0/1                       -1
10 SATO, ROMAIN 26:00 27 4/9 5/9 4/5 3 5 8 2 3     1 4 5 30
11 DATOME, LUIGI 8:00 4 2/2 0/2   1 3 4           1   5
12 D'ERCOLE, LORENZO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 KAUKENAS, RIMANTAS 24:00 9 1/5 1/6 4/4   1 1   1 2   1 2 3  
17 BAROZZI, DOMENICO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 STONEROOK, SHAUN 26:00 8   2/4 2/2 2 2 4 3 5       3 3 18
Team           1   1   2           3
Totals 200:00 85 20/46 10/35 15/18 18 18 36 10 20 8 3 2 20 20 90
        43.5% 28.6% 83.3%
Head coach: PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Hapoel Migdal
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 COTA, ED 34:00 9 4/6 0/1 1/2 2 8 10 2 2 2     2 2 17
6 HAGAG, DROR 7:00 2 1/1 0/1           1 2          
7 GOLEMAC, JURICA 23:15 12 4/7 1/1 1/1 6 3 9 2 1 6   1 5 3 12
8 MARKOVICH, EREZ 12:00 6 3/5     1   1     1     2   2
9 SLAY, TAMAR 20:45 14 2/5 2/4 4/4 2 4 6   1 3 2   4 2 13
11 PNINI, GUY 1:00                              
12 TAPIRO, MEIR 27:00 13 2/2 2/4 3/3   3 3 4 1 1     4 3 17
13 MOSCOVICH, MORDECHAI DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 DERY, AVISHI DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 BOWERS, TIMMY 39:00 16 5/11 1/1 3/4 2 6 8 2   1   2 2 3 17
33 AUSTIN, MARIO 36:00 19 4/10 1/2 8/10 2 8 10 2 1 2     1 7 27
Team                   1 1          
Totals 200:00 91 25/47 7/14 20/24 15 32 47 12 8 19 2 3 20 20 105
        53.2% 50% 83.3%
Head coach: SHAMIR, DAN
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
Montepaschi
"We are still at the top but this is not a satisfaction. We knew how difficult our group was and this is exactly the demonstration. And next game we we’ll be featuring Khimki that I still consider a team for the Euroleague Top 16. We have lost our confidence after some missed shots in the last five minutes but the problem has been in defense where could have done better. But probably the key of the game was before, during the third quarter when we missed three easy shots and two simple fastbreaks."
SHAMIR, DAN
Hapoel Migdal
"For us it is definitely a very important success. We had a lot of respect for Siena but we knew that this would have been our last chance to get into the second round so we played tough and we won a key game. The zone? Yes, Siena scored 37% from the floor which means that we played a very good game in defense. But I must compliment my players also for the offensive performance."

Players

MCINTYRE, TERRELL
Montepaschi
"Our problem was in defense. We let them take too many easy shots. And we were not aggressive enough any kind of defense we were using. Offense? I think that our average (37%) explains why we were not able to reply. But we must recover soon. Next game we want to reach the qualification beating Khimki."
TAPIRO, MEIR
Hapoel Migdal
"We were focused and won. Siena is an excellent team and we had to work hard on defense to win here."
No results found.