Close games in Euroleague Round 2

The theme for Game 2 in the Euroleague schedule seems to be how close can they finish the games as five of the seven contests currently played have ended in score differentials at the end of regulation of a total of nine points. Last year’s Final Four Runner-Up CSKA Moscow slid past Partizan mt:s Belgrade 71-76 in an overtime scorcher; Panathinaikos Athens outlasted Mapooro Cantu at home, 78:76; Unicaja Malaga beat Asseco Prokom Gdynia at home 75:77; Alba Berlin came back from a 13-point deficient early in the final quarter to beat Elan Chalon-Sur-Saone at home 74:71; Maccabi Tel Aviv snatched a victory from Montepaschi Siena in the final seconds, 70:68. The other two contests weren’t as close as Brose Baskets Bamberg got thumped 71:86 by Besiktas JK Istanbul and Lietuvos Ryta Vilnius to a beating at home at the hands of FC Barcelona Regal 49:67.

Partizan mt:s Belgrade – CSKA Moscow 71:76 OT
It was billed as the Euroleague “Game of the Week” and the squads did their best to live up to that title as Partizan used their sixth man, the home crowd at Hala Pionir Arena, to make things tough on Euroleague 2011-12 Final Four Runner-Up CSKA Moscow.

Partizan set the tone of the game early playing tough defense and forcing CSKA to commit seven turnovers in the first five minutes of this contest. The Russians tallied the first four points of the contest, but the hosts rolled off 11 unanswered to go up 11-4 and stay there until there was two minutes left to play in the first frame. Aaron Jackson converted a drive to the paint into a three-point play to break the CSKA scoring drought. Jackson and Sonny Weeks connected on a pair of singles and Zoran Erceg nailed a three-ball with little time on the clock to complete a seven point run and give CSKA a 13:14 lead after the first 10 minutes.

Weems dropped in three to start a nine-point run that would end with CSKA up 20-31 mid-way through the second 10 minutes. Drew Gordon dropped in six on three consecutive trips down the court to help cut the margin, but threes by Weems and Zoran gave the visitors a 31:39 advantage at the intermission.

After the break CSKA kept their led to around 10, but Partizan started getting hot from behind the arc and whittled away at the lead through the mid-secion of the third quarter. The hosts knocked down the last four points of the quarter to pull to within three, 46:49, going into the final 10.

Vladimir Lucic opened the scoring in the fourth with a bucket to cut the margin to a single point, 48:49. The Partizan crowd got something to cheer about when Dejan Musli tallied a pair on a layup and then Westerman found the bottom of the cords with a triple to put the hosts up by two points, 55:53. Weems did his best to quiet the crowd with two consecutive dunks to take the lead back, 55:57. With two minutes to play and the score knotted at 57, Davis Bertans sank a three-pointer, which was countered by Milos Teodosic, tying the score at 62 with a minute to play. Nenad Krstic canned a pair of free throws, but they were neutralized by Bogdan Bogdanovic a few seconds later to knot the score at 62. Partizan worked the ball for a final shot, but a jumper by Bogdanovic missed and the board was hauled in by Bertans and kicked the ball up to Westermann for a three at the buzzer that didn’t fall, sending the contest into an extra five at 62 all.

A Musli lay-up and Bogdanovic dunk put Partizan up 67:63 mid-way through the extra frame. Weems sank a pair of singles, with Musli erasing those with a drive down the lane for a pair. Weems and Teodosic then took control of the contest, tallying the next nine points to put the visitors up 69:74 with under a minute to play. Weems closed out the contest with a pair of singles, 71:76.

Weems finished the contest with 30 on near perfect shooting, 8/12 from inside the arc, 2/2 outside the arc and 8/8 at the charity stripe. Teodosic added 12 to the CSKA 12.

Bogdanovic lead the hosts with 16 points, while Westermann added 15. Musli contributed eight points and 10 rebounds in the loss.

Group A
Panathinaikos Athens – Mapooro Cantu 78:76
Cantu took their game on the road looking for an upset win at the OAKA, but 2011-12 Final Four participant Panathinaikos found a way to hold them off in the final minutes to pull their Group A record to 1-1 on the season. Cantu drops to 0-2 with the loss.

The hosts used their expertise at the free throw line to pull ahead to a 23-17 lead, going six for six at the end of the first 10. Cantu kept the score close with timely three-balls. Panathinaikos tallied two at the buzzer on a Kostats Tsartsaris dunk.

Cantu used a 4:13 run in the second quarter to build a four-point margin at 32:36. Panathinaikos lost sight of the hoop for nearly five minutes, not scoring during the drought and opening the door for their upset-hungry visitors. Tsartsaris found the bottom of the cords at the buzzer again, this time giving his squad the lead back, 44:43, and the OAKA crowd something to cheer about during the intermission.

Panathinaikos used multiple trips to the charity stripe and some tough plays in the paint to build a six-point margin mid-way through the third 10, 54:48. Cantu went on their own scoring drought in the third, allowing their hosts to build their lead. For the third time in the contest Panathinaikos got points at the buzzer when Sofoklis Schortsanitis got a deuce in the paint to end the quarter up 61:55.

Cantu roared back at the beginning of the final quarter forcing Panathinaikos into four turnovers, while going on an eight point run to get up 61:63. Panathinaikos regained the lead quickly and then built up a eight-point margin with a minute to play. The Italians proved once again that there’s a reason you play the games in their entirety though, as they were able to cut the gap to two with 1.6 seconds, but didn’t have the opportunity to get any closer.

Schortsanitis lead the hosts with 19 points, going 9 for 11 at the line and 5 of 8 from inside the arc. Dimitris Diamantidis added 12, and Roko Ukic and Andy Panko contributed 11 each.

Cantu got 17 points each from Pietro Aradori and Manuchar Markoishvili and 10 points from Alexander Tyus-Cecchini.

Group B
Asseco Prokom Gdynia – Unicaja Malaga 75:77
In yet another tight matchu-up, Unicaja traveled to Poland to take on Asseco Prokom in a contest to see which squad would earn their first Euroleague win of the 2012-13 season.

Unicaja lead for most of the contest, but the hosts tied the score at 68 with just under four minutes to play on a three-point-play by Adam Hrycaniuk. On the next trip down the floor Asseco regained the lead for the first time since the first frame on a nice dish from Jerel Blassingame to Hrycaniuk, who finished the deal and put his squad up by two 70:68. Earl Calloway dropped in a pair of free throws with 20.4 seconds on the clock to extend the visitors lead to 72:77. Blassingame converted a three-point play to cut the margin to two, but they were unable to get a shot to fall through in the end and came up short 75:77

Unicaja got 18 points from Marcus Williams, 15 from Urtasun and 10 from Zorn Dragic.

Asseco got 16 from Lukasz Koszarek, Frank Robinson dropped in 14 and Hrycaniuk added 11.

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv – Montepaschi Siena 70:68
Maccabi took their Group B record to 2-0, while Montepaschi dropped to 0-2, on a hard-fought game that went down to the wire. Ricky Hickman lead Maccabi with 19 points and the winning basket with four seconds on the clock.

Mid-way through the first quarter the visitors got up 6:12 and then extended that margin to seven points shortly after to 10:17. Bobby Brown nailed a shot from behind the halfcourt line as time ran out on the quarter to put Montepaschi up by six after the first 10, 14:20.

In the second quarter, Maccabi struggled early to put the ball through the hole, but managed to keep the gap steady between five and eight points. Brown put the visitors up by eight with just over a minute in the first half and then Maccabi got six unanswered, four from Hickman and two from Lior Eliyahu, to cut the margin down to two, 31:33, going into the intermission.

The guests scored the first four points after the break to push the lead back to six, 31:37. The squads exchanged baskets for couple of minutes and Hickman gave the hosts the lead, 45:43, mid-way through the quarter. The lead changed hands numerous times in the final minutes of the frame, but a jumper as time ran out by Guy Pnini put Maccabi up by one going into the final 10, 53:52.

With three minutes remaining Montepaschi found themselves with six-point advantage, 62:68, with just over a minute on the clock after taking advantage of Maccabi’s poor shooting in the frame. The home squad finally got on track and six unanswered points later they were tied at 68. As time was running out, Tomas Ress fired up a jumper that missed, Viktor Sanikidze attempted a tip in that missed and Hickman was able to drive the lane to get the lead back with four seconds remaining. Kemp missed a jumper for Montepaschi that would have put them in OT, but his shoot feel short, preserving the Maccabi win.

Hickman lead all scorers with 19, Thomas Malcom added 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Eliyahu contributed 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Marcelus Kemp turned in 16 points for Montepaschi, Brown talled 11 points, Sanikidze contributed 12 rebounds and Mario Kasun hauled in 11 rebounds.