The visitors blew the visitors away thanks to a 34-point third-quarter performance to keep their playoff chances alive.
Buducnost conquers Trento, 78-97
Buducnost VOLI Podgorica came away from Il T Quotidiano Arena with a convincing 78-97 win over Dolomiti Energia Trento on Wednesday night. Buducnost improved to 7-10 and will fight for a playoff spot in Round 18 against Dreamland Gran Canaria at home. Trento slipped to the same record, 7-10, and will need to defeat Aris Midea Thessalonikki on the road to have a chance to qualify for the next stage.
Nikola Tanaskovic led six Buducnost players in double figures with 19 points, while he also had 8 rebounds for a PIR of 28. Yogi Ferrell posted 14 points and 8 assists, Yoan Makoundou, Andrija Slavkovic and Kenan Kamenjas chipped in with 11 apiece and McKinley Wright netted 10. Kamar Baldwin paced the hosts with 13 points and 4 dimes, while Andreas Grazulis, Toto Forray, Davide Alviti and Prentiss Hubb poured in 11 points each.
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Thanks to three quick inside baskets, one by Slavkovic and two by Tanaskovic, Buducnost took an early 0-6 lead. The hosts needed some time to adjust on offense until Baldwin found some momentum, but the visitors held on to keep an-8-10 lead when the first timeout took place. Ferrell took over when the game resumed with a long three, as Trento failed to take care of the ball and missed consecutive offenses that allowed Budcnost to escape 8-18 after Wright hit again from downtown. Despite Derek Cooke helping with scoring and full-court pressure, Trento couldn’t get close as it trailed 14-22 after 10 minutes.
The first Trento three-pointer of the night came from Alviti, who capped a 2-7 run early in the second period to force an urgent timeout by Buducnost at 21-24. Even though it managed to freeze the comeback, it only lasted for a while as the hosts kept using the three-point line to finally take the lead, 34-32, behind long-range daggers from Grazulis, Alviti and Hubb. Buducnost didn’t take a step back, though, and pushed even harder on the offensive boards to win the rebounding battle and take advantage of back-to-back triples by Ferrell and Slavkovic, which sparked a 5-12 run that finished the first half with the guests ruling 39-45.
Paul Biligha got Trento going with an inside bucket right after the intermission but nobody else joined, so Buducnost needed nothing but a couple of good inside moves by Slavkovic and Tanaskovic and a pair of triples by Vladimir Mihailovic and Ferrell to build a double-digit margin, 42-54. Things got even worse when Ferrell took over, nicely distributing the ball to allow Tanaskovic and Mihalovic to keep punishing the rim from both inside and outside. As such, Buducnost escaped 48-67 after 27 minutes, with Trento trying again to regroup through a timeout. Nothing worked, though, as the guests remained hot on offense and scored on almost each possession to enter the last stanza with a 23-point advantage, 56-79.
Brandon Paul made it a 28-point game, 56-84, when he hit his first from downtown early in the fourth quarter, all but confirming the outcome for Buducnost, while Trento tried to finish the game strong. An 8-0 run returned some joy to the stands, but it couldn’t go further as Buducnost kept a 69-93 lead with 3 minutes remaining. Mattia Udom, Hubb and Luca Conti took the reins at that moment to prevent Trento from suffering a more painful defeat.