 Gescrap Bilbao Basket rescued a thrilling 85-78 come-from-behind win after overtime over Buducnost Podgorica Voli on Wednesday in Group B. Buducnost opened the third quarter with back-to-back triples for a 31-46 huge advantage. But late in the game Bilbao tied the score at 64-64. Marko Popovic scored 5 crucial points to put the visitors back ahead 64-69, but an amazing play by Kostas Vasiliadis at the buzzer tied the score at 71-71. Bilbao then scored the first 5 points of the extra session and never looked back.
Lamont Hamilton finished with 20 points with 10 rebounds to lead the winners, Vasiliadis added 17 points, Nikos Zisis 14 and Axel Hervelle amassed a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds. Gerald Lee paced Buducnost with 17 points, Nikola Ivanovic added 12 on 4-of-6 shooting from downtown and Marko Popopvic finished with 11.
Aleksa Popovic opened the scoring from downtown for Buducnost, and after Zisis posted a layup for Bilbao, Popovic capped a 2-7 run with a huge dunk. Zisis and Hervelle scored to close within 6-9 after Gerald Lee hit a jumper. A deep three by Vasiliadis followed another open court layup by Popovic. Strahinja Milosevic and Alex Mumbru both scored from mid range, but the visitors’ newcomers, Milan Milosevic and Ivanovic scored three times from behind the arc to finish the first quarter with a 12-22 lead. Ivanovic scored his third consecutive triple to make it 12-25. Hamilton responded with a dunk before a three-point-play by Lee established a 14-28 lead. Raul Lopez with 5 points fueled an 11-2 run to bring the hosts within 25-30, however Marko Popovic and Cedomir Vitkovac scored twice from downtown to re-establish a double digit Buducnost margin, 25-36. Vasiliadis free throws kept Bilbao alive, but Lee completed another three-point-play for a 27-40 lead. Hervelle made a jumper and a dunk from Hamilton cut the margin to 31-40 for Buducnost at halftime.
Ivanovic and Marko Popovic continued to score from downtown as the Buducnost lead rolled to 31-46. Hamilton dunked and posted free throws to get to 36-48, but Vladimir Mihailovic’s open court layup made it 36-52. Hervelle and Roger Grimau scored jumpers for 40-52, but the visitors remained on fire with Milosevic and Dusko Bunic. Rakovic from the foul line fixed the score at 43-56 after 30 minutes. Mumbru opened the final quarter with a layup for Bilbao, but Buducnost seemed to be in control as baskets by Lee, Vitkovac and Milosevic to made it 47-62 with five minutes left on the game clock. Mumbru scored 6 of 11 unanswered points as Bilbao stormed to 58-62. Lee hit a jumper with a minute left, then a quick three pointer by Zisis and a three-point-play by Mumbru tied the score at 64-64 with just 43 seconds on the clock. Buducnost called timeout and Marko Popovic scored from long distance with 23 seconds remaining. Zisis missed free throws and Marko Popovic made 2 to go on to 64-69. With 6 seconds left Zisis scored all 3 attempts from the foul line. Demarquis Bost made just 1 of his 2 with 4 left, but Vasiliadis scored his first free throw, missed the second on purpose and got the rebound to score and tie it at 71-71, beating the buzzer and forcing the game into an extra session.
A three pointer by Vasiliadis capped a 5-0 start to overtime for Bilbao. Aleksa Popovic nailed a jumper, but Vasiliadis became unstoppable with another triple to lead 79-73. Lee tried to fuel Buducnost, but Zisis and Hamolton with back-to-back jumpers sealed the home team’s incredible win.
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Eurocupbasketball.com
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