Lauretana Biella managed to take its second home win of the season on Tuesday night, this time against visiting BK Venstpils by a commanding 80-54. The guests started with a 0-4 surprise but an early 11-0 run of the hosts put them ahead and they never looked back to reach margins that exceeded the 20 points until the final phases of the game. The win allows the Italian team to stay atop the standings in Group H with a triple-tie for 2-1 with CEZ Nymburk and Brose Baskets, while Ventspils drops to 0-3 and is the only winless team in the group after the first leg. Pervis Pasco and Joe Smith led the winners with 15 points apiece, the former with no miss, Sven Schultze added 14 and Pietro Aradori contributed 13. For Ventspils, Janis Strelnieks led the way with 14 points and Rolands akis added 12. A 3 of 23 from the arc hurt Ventspils too much while Biella's 11 of 26 helpd the hosts keepthe opponent always at a safe distance.
Ernests Kalve and Dairis Bertans made it a quick 0-4 edge for Ventspils, until Joe Smith opened the scoring for Biella. Three straight threes for the hosts by Sven Schultze and Smith himself earned them the
first lead of the game, 11-8, forcing a timeout of the guests. Pietro Aradori joined in with a new three and a layup for five straight points making it 16-8, and then, after a few attacks with no score for
both sides, Luca Garri stepped up for Biella again for a three-point play that made it an 11-0 burst, 19-8. Bertans finally broke the spell for Ventspils with a free throw, but Kieron Achara blasted another
bomb from downtown that closed the first quarter with Biella in command, 22-9. Massimo Chessa opened the follow-up with a new triple for Biella, and only Aaron Pettway managed to reply that for Venstpils
with a three-point play of his own, 25-12. But after that, a new barrage from the hosts came down again with a 10-0 spurt capped by Pervis Pasco with five straight points for the 23-point lead, 35-12. Janis
Strelnieks stopped the bleeding for Ventspils but with only three assists at that point, it was clear that the gusts were not finding their tempo together with a poor 0 of 8 from the arc. On theotherhand,
Biella, despite actually having more turnovers, were dominating the rebounds and having a 7 of 10 from downtown that made things a lot easier. Strelnieks finally scored from downtown for Ventspils but
another three by Schultze closed the first half with a commanding 46-21 Biella edge.
The second half was no different story. Biella knew how to defend its lead and Venstpils would have to improve a lot to have some options. The guests still struggled from the arc, 2 of 14, whil Pasco was the
man for Biella leading the scorers with no miss. The lead stayed around the 20 points for the whole third period despite Venstpils managing to cut off some points from the halftime difference but Strelnieks
appeared in the last steps of the third period for a 0-4 personal run that made it 59-42 after 30 minutes. Rolands Zakis managed to extend that burst to 0-7 with his three-point play to open the last period,
59-45, but Smith and Schultze smashed all Venstpils dreams with three three-pointers that put things back in place, 68-49 in minute 35. That was all the resistance that Venstpils would offer as from that point until the final buzzer, Biella managed to cruise to the final win thanks to flawless free-throw shooting in the final minutes.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Eurocupbasketball.com
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