Pamesa showed itself to be fully back on track in Group C by crushing Idea Slask Wroclaw 102-73 in Valencia on Thursday night for a second consecutive win. Pamesa, who broke open the game in the second half, improve to 7-4 and a share of second place with Benetton Treviso. Meanwhile, Slask falls to 6-5 and will likely have to carry on battling until the final game to get to the next round. Fabricio Oberto led the winners with 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting from two-point range and collected 9 rebounds. Jose Antonio Paraiso and Alejandro Montecchia added 14 points apiece while Dimos Dikoudis had 10. Dejan Tomasevic barely missed a triple-double with 9 points, 8 rebounds and 11 assists for Pamesa. Lynn Greer led Slask with 22 points on 6 of 8 three-pointers, while Dominik Tomczyk added 11 and Maciej Zielinski 10 for the guests.
Pamesa started the game at full speed, as two baskets in the low post by Oberto and a layup by Jose Antonio Paraiso gave the hosts a 6-0 lead. Slask woke up once Pero Vasiljevic made a mid-range jumper and Wojcik added a three-pointer, but Pamesa's frontcourt, Oberto and Tomasevic, combined for 13 points in a 15-8 opening run. The Euroleague's leading scorer, Lynn Greer got into the act with a triple but Oberto scored 4 easy points around the basket to bring the hosts lead to 21-15. The quarter closed with some fireworks from Greer, as he nailed two triples and Slask was within 22-21 after 10 minutes.
Slask struggled to score early in the second, missing some easy shots, while back-to-back baskets by Paraiso and Tomasevic powered a 8-2 run in which Oberto and Victor Luengo, who was one-on-one against Greer, also scored, making it a seven-point game at 31-24. Slask could not find the way to the basket and Pamesa's defense limited the guests to just 2 points in 5 minutes, while looking for one-on-one situations for Oberto and an extraordinary Tomasevic. Idea coach Muli Katzurin called timeout, and Greer stepped up once again with 5 minutes in one minute, cut the hosts' lead to 33-29. Pamesa had the last word in the first half, as Luengo, with 5 points, powered a 8-0 run, in which Montecchia added a three-pointer, enough to extend the hosts' lead to double digits, 42-31, at halftime. Pamesa outrebounded Slask by 22-10 while making 13 of its 16 two-point attempts. Tomasevic had 9 points, 7 rebounds and an amazing 8 assists at halftime.
The guests got back into the game early in the third, as they went on a 5-10 opening run in which Zielinski had 4 points while Tomczyk and Greer made a three-pointer apiece to bring Slask within 47-41. Slask improved its defense near the basket, but Pamesa's backcourt stepped up, as Rigaudeau and Montecchia led a 11-3 run which extended the hosts' lead to 61-44 midway through the third. Slask came back to life with back-to-back three-pointers by Tomczyk and Michal Ignerski, but Pamesa found Oberto once again in a one-on-one situation near the basket. He scored 4 points, powering a 12-3 run while Paraiso drilled a three-pointer to make it a 20-point game, 73-53, entering the fourth.
Pamesa broke open the game early in the fourth, as the whole team seemed to be on fire. Paraíso and Rigaudeau drilled one apiece from downtown, while Montecchia and Dimos Dikoudis each scored two from the charity stripe, enough to give the hosts a 83-56. Greer drilled another three-pointer, his sixth of the night, but showtime had already started for the local fans. Dikoudis and Paraiso made back-to-back dunks as the crowd went wild. The outcome was clear, and even youngsters Pedro Llompart and Jose Amador had the chance to make their Euroleague debut, as Llompart scored 9 points in the final minutes while Amador also had the chance to add one point. It was a sign that Pamesa had a very confortable game, as the hosts get closer to achieve one of the short-term goals this season. Finally, the hosts won, 102-73
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Euroleague.net