Virtus Segafredo Bologna, with all its key players in place, seemed to be cruising towards victory against Frutti Extra Bursaspor on Thursday night in their rescheduled Round 10 game. But in the end, the team needed heroics from veteran swingman Kyle Weems to register the victory.
Jaiteh carried, Weems saved full-strength Virtus



It was a night where Milos Teodosic played his first EuroCup game of 2022 and Kevin Hervey his first since November 16.
Virtus overcame a slow start by scoring 37 second-quarter points to take control of the game, then used the dominance of Mam Jaiteh inside and a three-point shot apiece from Alessandro Pajola and Teodosic to open an 18-point lead, 77-59, with 3 minutes left in the third quarter.
Related Videos
Jaiteh looked unstoppable, shooting 9-for-9 in 16 minutes until then. Teodosic was well on his way to double-digit assists. Virtus seemed well on its way to a comfortable win.
"We did a very good job until we built up a good advantage of 18 points. Then, when we rested some players, we got into a slump," Virtus head coach said Sergio Scariolo after the game. "Then it was a really tough one."
Bursaspor scored the next 12 points behind guard Andrew Andrews, who was unstoppable the entire night. Andrews finished the night with 37 points. Thos were the most in the EuroCup this season and tied for the competition's best single-game scoring since March 2018.
Onuralp Bitim was the next to step up for the visitors, standing out in a 0-13 fourth-quarter run to put Bursaspor up 86-90 with 3:40 to go.
But then Weems stepped up by nailing a pair of triples, both on assists from Teodosic. The first put Virtus up 91-90 with 2:50 left and his next one gave Virtus the lead for good, 96-94 with 1:17 left. Weems then finished things off by picking up a loose ball after Jaiteh was stopped under the rim and beating the shot clock on a baseline floater with 30 seconds to go.
"We think we could have made it easier when we opened up the score in the third quarter," Jaiteh said after the game. "But we need to keep learning as a team, keep building and keep getting ready to reach our goal."
Virtus will be happy with the performances of Teodosic, who dished 13 assists, and the return of Hervey, who had 8 points and 4 assists. Marco Belinelli and Isaia Cordinier, who also missed games this season, carried the team in the second quarter, while Jaiteh, a late-October addition, dominated inside.
It was only the third game this season and the first since Round 4 that Virtus had all its players available, missing only Ekpe Udoh, who has been out since suffering a preseason knee injury.
Coach Scariolo and Virtus fans hope that this is only the first of many games for a full-strength Virtus, which will try in the last five regular season games to improve its position in Group B standings, where it currently sits in fifth place with 7-6 record.




























































































