FIBA Basketball
ITA - Biella pip VidiVici to last play-off place in Italy
ROMA (Lega A) - VidiVici Bologna slipped up at Coppa Italia champions Carpisa Napoli on Sunday as Italian basketball was robbed of a glitzy Bologna derby in the first round of the play-offs.VidiVici would have met their rivals Climamio in the opening round of the post-season with a win but they lost 95-89. That, coupled with Angelico Biella's 77-71 win
ROMA (Lega A) - VidiVici Bologna slipped up at Coppa Italia champions Carpisa Napoli on Sunday as Italian basketball was robbed of a glitzy Bologna derby in the first round of the play-offs.
VidiVici would have met their rivals Climamio in the opening round of the post-season with a win but they lost 95-89. That, coupled with Angelico Biella's 77-71 win over Vertical Vision Cantu, lifted Biella into the eighth and final play-off place above VidiVici and set up a clash with Climamio.
For a while, it looked as if it might be VidiVici's day. Dusan Vukcevic's three-pointer with less than three minutes to go tied the game at 85-85 but Carpisa's Lynn Greer made a free throw shortly after to put the hosts back in front for good.
Greer finished with a game-high 26 points and Ansu Sesay weighed in with 20 for fourth placed Carpisa, who now have a quarter-final tie with fifth placed Snaidero Cucini Udine.
Climamio Bologna finished alone at the top with 27 wins after scraping past Snaidero, 87-86. They trailed by 11 points early in the second half, but Slovenian international Sani Becirovic's 14 points in the third quarter allowed Climamio to come back.
With 20 seconds remaining, Marco Belinelli's three-pointer gave his team a one-point lead. Glenn Sekunda could have won it at the end for Snaidero but his shot with three seconds to play rimmed out.
"We are on the right path," said coach Jasmin Repesa. "We will try to improve and find our balance but we are ready for the play-offs. I am satisfied with my team's first place and I'm happy for the club and for the fans."
Benetton Treviso thrashed Montepaschi Siena 96-69 but had to settle for second place and a first-round play-off tie with Armani Jeans Milano. Treviso went on a 29-0 run early in the second quarter that crushed Siena, who trailed 51-36 at half-time and never recovered. Benetton lost Lithuanian international Ramunas Siskauskas to a leg injury and his status going into the play-offs is uncertain.
Benetton coach David Blatt said: "My biggest concern is not that we face Milano in the quarter-finals, but rather that Siskauskas has sustained a left thigh injury. We've proved that we are a healthy team and that we could have finished first, even though Fortitudo have truly deserved to finish top. We've had injury woes throughout the season but we've managed to overcome them."
Siena coach Carlo Recalcati, who will lead Italy's national side at the FIBA World Championship in Japan this year, said: "We go into the play-offs with a bitter taste. We have made many mistakes and our biggest one has been having given away many turnovers we tried to solve the situation with long-range shooting."
Montepaschi finished nine of 29 (31%) from the arc. Perhaps the fact that this game didn't mean much has conditioned us but it hasn't been the best way to prepare for the play-offs like a mature squad should."
Milano would have finished higher in the table but they lost a nailbiter at Lottomatica Roma, 91-89, and ended up in seventh. Roma are sixth and thus also have a rematch of last year's quarter-final against Montepaschi.
Milano trailed 59-41 three minutes into the second half but staged an impressive fightback and pulled level at 89-89 on a three-pointer from Italian national team point guard Massimo Bulleri with 42 seconds to play. A foul by Giacomo Galanda put David Hawkins on the line with 24 seconds to play. Armani Jeans had plenty of time to tie or move in front with a three-pointer.
Bulleri missed with a shot from the arc, but Preston Shumpert grabbed the offensive rebound but was unable to make the follow-up shot. Hawkins then grabbed the rebound to seal victory.
Sasha Djordjevic, who took over Armani Jeans midway through the season from Lino Lardo, said: "It makes me angry that we fall behind so far and in order to recover, we needed to use a lot of energy which means that at the end, we struggle. We now await Treviso and we will look to advance to the next round. If the competition has shown anything, it is that no team is perfect."
Roma coach Svetislav Pesic was livid, even though his team had won.
"I cannot be happy with this victory," he said. "I have never ended a season in sixth position."
Air Avellino won 79-74 at Bipop Carire Reggio Emilia for their 10th victory, but that wasn't enough to prevent them suffering relegation. They will join Viola Reggio Calabria in the Lega Due because BT Roseto won over Upea C. d'Orlando, 84-80. Had Roseto lost at home, they would have been relegated.
From Cindy Garcia-Bennett
PA Sport, Rome Exclusively for FIBA
VidiVici would have met their rivals Climamio in the opening round of the post-season with a win but they lost 95-89. That, coupled with Angelico Biella's 77-71 win over Vertical Vision Cantu, lifted Biella into the eighth and final play-off place above VidiVici and set up a clash with Climamio.
For a while, it looked as if it might be VidiVici's day. Dusan Vukcevic's three-pointer with less than three minutes to go tied the game at 85-85 but Carpisa's Lynn Greer made a free throw shortly after to put the hosts back in front for good.
Greer finished with a game-high 26 points and Ansu Sesay weighed in with 20 for fourth placed Carpisa, who now have a quarter-final tie with fifth placed Snaidero Cucini Udine.
Climamio Bologna finished alone at the top with 27 wins after scraping past Snaidero, 87-86. They trailed by 11 points early in the second half, but Slovenian international Sani Becirovic's 14 points in the third quarter allowed Climamio to come back.
With 20 seconds remaining, Marco Belinelli's three-pointer gave his team a one-point lead. Glenn Sekunda could have won it at the end for Snaidero but his shot with three seconds to play rimmed out.
"We are on the right path," said coach Jasmin Repesa. "We will try to improve and find our balance but we are ready for the play-offs. I am satisfied with my team's first place and I'm happy for the club and for the fans."
Benetton Treviso thrashed Montepaschi Siena 96-69 but had to settle for second place and a first-round play-off tie with Armani Jeans Milano. Treviso went on a 29-0 run early in the second quarter that crushed Siena, who trailed 51-36 at half-time and never recovered. Benetton lost Lithuanian international Ramunas Siskauskas to a leg injury and his status going into the play-offs is uncertain.
Benetton coach David Blatt said: "My biggest concern is not that we face Milano in the quarter-finals, but rather that Siskauskas has sustained a left thigh injury. We've proved that we are a healthy team and that we could have finished first, even though Fortitudo have truly deserved to finish top. We've had injury woes throughout the season but we've managed to overcome them."
Siena coach Carlo Recalcati, who will lead Italy's national side at the FIBA World Championship in Japan this year, said: "We go into the play-offs with a bitter taste. We have made many mistakes and our biggest one has been having given away many turnovers we tried to solve the situation with long-range shooting."
Montepaschi finished nine of 29 (31%) from the arc. Perhaps the fact that this game didn't mean much has conditioned us but it hasn't been the best way to prepare for the play-offs like a mature squad should."
Milano would have finished higher in the table but they lost a nailbiter at Lottomatica Roma, 91-89, and ended up in seventh. Roma are sixth and thus also have a rematch of last year's quarter-final against Montepaschi.
Milano trailed 59-41 three minutes into the second half but staged an impressive fightback and pulled level at 89-89 on a three-pointer from Italian national team point guard Massimo Bulleri with 42 seconds to play. A foul by Giacomo Galanda put David Hawkins on the line with 24 seconds to play. Armani Jeans had plenty of time to tie or move in front with a three-pointer.
Bulleri missed with a shot from the arc, but Preston Shumpert grabbed the offensive rebound but was unable to make the follow-up shot. Hawkins then grabbed the rebound to seal victory.
Sasha Djordjevic, who took over Armani Jeans midway through the season from Lino Lardo, said: "It makes me angry that we fall behind so far and in order to recover, we needed to use a lot of energy which means that at the end, we struggle. We now await Treviso and we will look to advance to the next round. If the competition has shown anything, it is that no team is perfect."
Roma coach Svetislav Pesic was livid, even though his team had won.
"I cannot be happy with this victory," he said. "I have never ended a season in sixth position."
Air Avellino won 79-74 at Bipop Carire Reggio Emilia for their 10th victory, but that wasn't enough to prevent them suffering relegation. They will join Viola Reggio Calabria in the Lega Due because BT Roseto won over Upea C. d'Orlando, 84-80. Had Roseto lost at home, they would have been relegated.
From Cindy Garcia-Bennett
PA Sport, Rome Exclusively for FIBA