ITA - McIntyre leads Siena past Milano in finals opener

SIENA (Lega A) - Montepaschi Siena pulled away in the second half and handed Armani Jeans Milano a 100-80 defeat on Sunday to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven games Italian League finals.

Terrell McIntyre accounted for the last 10 points of a 15-3 run by Siena that turned a slim 50-49 edge at halftime into a 68-54 advantage late in the third period. It proved to be the turning point of the game.

The visitors did fight back and cut the deficit to 73-63 as they headed into the fourth quarter, but the defending champions responded by accounting for 12 of the first 16 points in the final frame, to put the game beyond their opponents' reach.

McIntyre had the hot hand early on, scoring 14 points in the opening period to see Siena go up 27-24.

Milano played from behind mostly, leading just once, courtesy of Stefano Mancinelli's lay-up to put his team up 49-48 late in the second quarter. It was shortlived though as Nikos Zisis buried a pair of free-throws at the other end for the halftime score.

Romain Sato finished with 18 points for Siena, who are going for their fourth league title in a row.

Chris Monroe was the high-man for Milano with 15 points.

Game 2 is on Tuesday.

FIBA