European Prospects

Reyer Venezia and Virtus Bologna are facing for the title after their wins against Stella Azzurra Roma and Montepaschi Siena.

Reyer Venezia – Stella Azzurra 59-58

With a rain of threes in the last minutes of the second quarter Venice took a 5 points lead that Rome didn’t manage to recover.

1994 point guard Alessandro Grande missed the buzzer beater that could have given the victory to Stella Azzurra, but finished the game with 19 points, 7 rebounds and 8 drawn fouls. Together with him 1994 guard Ennio Leonzio had 20 points and 8 drawn fouls. But Rome missed the points in the paint of his 1995 center Valerio Cucci who had 4 points in just 20 minutes due to the foul trouble. Also 1997 swingman Andrea La Torre had a bad game, scoring 0 points in 11 minutes.

Venice had a solid game from 1995 forward Giovanni Vildera with 8 points and 7 rebounds, while 1994 big man Francesco Candussi scored 9 points and added 16 rebounds. 1995 forward Nicola Akele scored 12 points and showed his intensity on the defensive end. The surprise of the day has been 1994 guard Francesco Paolin who scored 12 points with 3/5 from 3 points range. Not a big day for 1994 center Vincenzo Pipitone who scored 0 points in his minutes on the field.

Montepaschi Siena – Unipol Virtus Bologna 76-90

Virtus Bologna showed all his potential closing the first quarter up by 12 points and the simply administrating that gap.

Siena had a good game by 1995 Swedish forward Johan Lofberg who had 17 points and 7 rebounds (5 offensive), the other Swedish 1995 guard Jacob Johansson had 6 points in 11 minutes. 1995 point guard Alessandro Procacci scored 13 points, but had 6 turnovers and 5 fouls committed those led him to a -2 in the efficiency index. 1995 guard Alessandro Cappelletti showed once again he has tremendous 1on1 skills and finished the game with 16 points, 4 assists and 7 drawn fouls.

The dominance of Bologna had two names : 1994 forward Aristide Landi and 1995 Czech forward Adam Pechacek. The first had 29 points in 25 minutes with 4/6 from 3 and 11 rebounds, while the second added 15 points and 16 rebounds in 30 minuts. 1994 point guard Matteo Imbrò had 18 points and 7 assists in 26 minutes while 1995 forward Simone Fontecchio had no points in his only 9 minutes played due to foul trouble. The surprise of the day for Bologna has been 1994 guard Frederico Guazzaloca who had 17 points and 8 rebounds.