Prepelic pushes Valencia past Virtus

In a thriller between 7DAYS EuroCup giants, Valencia Basket took a step toward finishing in a good position in Group B by downing Virtus Segafredo Bologna 83-77 at La Fonteta on Wednesday.

Regular Season

Round 13 of 18

game Virtus Segafredo Bologna vs Valencia Basket

Regular Season

group b

Valencia BasketVBC

8377

Virtus Segafredo BolognaVIR

group b

Overview

w

l

w

l

w

Valencia improved to 9-4 in the standings and swept Virtus, which dropped to 6-6. Klemen Prepelic paced the winners with 19 points, Jaime Pradilla added 10 and Louis Labeyrie grabbed 10 rebounds for Valencia. Kyle Weems led Virtus with 17 points, Isaia Cordinier added 11 and Marco Belinelli and Jakarr Sampson each scored 10 for the visitors. Virtus led 52-63 at the end of the third quarter before Prepelic led a 9-0 run that gave Valencia a 69-67 lead. Cordinier hit a three-pointer, but Prepelic and Sam Van Rossom fueled another 8-0 run that allowed Valencia to seal an important win.

Prepelic got Valencia going with a jumper and Tobey matched Amar Alibegovic's layup with a tip-in for a 4-2 lead. Cordinier hit a jumper and Mam Jaiteh added a jump hook, but Martin Hermansson downed a jumper and fed Pradilla for a dunk in traffic that restored an 8-6 Valencia lead. Claver struck from downtown, getting help from Louis Labeyrie to boost the hosts' lead to 15-8. Tobey dunked, Pradilla erased Weems's step-back jumper with a floater and Neno Dimitrijevic made it a double-digit game, 21-10. Sampson followed a layup with a dunk and then Bojan Dubljevic and Amadeo Tessitori traded triples for a 24-17 score after 10 minutes.

Marco Belinelli took over with a wild three-point play early in the second quarter. Labeyrie stepped up with a put-back layup. Belinelli scored in penetration and Bojan Dubljevic's jump hook gave the hosts a 28-22 edge. Prepelic scored around the basket and struck twice from downtown for a 36-25 Valencia margin. Cordinier downed a jumper that ignited an 0-8 run in which Pajola and Weems each added a three-pointer to get within 36-33. Pradilla rescued the hosts, but Pajola took over with a driving layup. Tobey hit a jumper that Weems bettered with a triple to make it 40-38 at the break.

Weems dunked after the break and Belinelli added a three-point play to complete Virtus's comeback, 40-43. Jaiteh capped a 0-10 run with a layup, as Pradilla ignited the crowd with a four-point play. Weems insisted from beyond the arc and Alibegovic joined the three-point shootout, which prompted Valencia to call timeout at 44-51. Xabi Lopez-Arostegui answered from downtown and Dimitrijevic hit back-to-back floaters, but Alibegovic and Pajola kept the visitors ahead, 51-55. Sampson scored again and Cordinier added a layup that gave the guests a 52-59 edge. Tessitori dunked off a steal and Cordinier scored in penetration to fix the score at 52-63 after 30 minutes.

Labeyrie tried to change things with a bomb from downtown early in the fourth quarter. Sampson and Jasiel Rivero traded jumpers and then Van Rossom struck from beyond the arc to give Valencia hope at 60-65. Sampson kept pushing Virtus with a put-back basket, but Prepelic had 7 points in a 9-0 run that gave Valencia a 69-67 edge. After Cordinier sank a triple, Prepelic made it 71-70 with less than 3 minutes left. Rivero scored around the basket and Van Rossom buried a critical three-pointer that sealed the outcome, 76-70, with 42.5 seconds remaining.