The Italian side remained alive in the race postseason basketball with a statement win in Round 25
Luca Vildoza’s game-winner, unlikely heroes lift Virtus in thriller over Monaco
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 25 of 38
Regular Season
AS MonacoASM
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Virtus BolognaVIR
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No Carsen Edwards, no Alessandro Pajola and no Alen Smailagic. It did not matter for Virtus Bologna, which went heavily depleted into Friday night’s matchup on the road against last season’s EuroLeague runner-up AS Monaco, only to come up with an 82-84 win.
And Virtus did so in one of the most dramatic finishes so far this season, as Luca Vildoza drained a game-winning triple with 4.4 seconds to go. After a timeout, Elie Okobo had a chance to win it for Monaco, but his three-point shot was off the mark.
“Everybody in our locker room believes we can win every game,” said Derrick Alston Jr., Virtus’s top scorer on the night with 19 points.
“Everybody went out there and contributed, which is amazing. We had guys to step up and play big, play big minutes, and have big possessions.”
Apart from Alston and the hero of the night, Vildoza, who finished with 13 points, Virtus indeed had a series of contributors.
Matt Morgan netted 15 points, and veteran guard Daniel Hackett made some big plays down the stretch, collecting 7 points and 5 rebounds.
However, it is hard to argue that any of the contributions were bigger than those of Nicola Akele and Aliou Diarra.
It could be easy to say that Diarra’s comeback from injury has been huge for Virtus, but his contribution was anything but expected. The big man did miss the last six games, however, and before Friday night he had never played more than 11 minutes in any game.
Akele, who also missed time with injury earlier this season, has had just one game in which he played more than 17 minutes. That is until Friday night, when he scored 11 points, pulled down 7 rebounds, and also dished 3 assists, all career-best marks. Meanwhile, Diarra had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Those combined 13 boards, along with 8-for-11 two-point shooting from both of them, was as big as Vildoza’s game-winning triple.
“This is a team victory,” coach Dusko Ivanovic stressed in an interview after the game. “Teamwork makes the dream work.”
The Virtus head coach continued, adding: “Our defense in the second half was so much better. On offense, we had very good patience, attacking for many seconds to find better options.”
Monaco was up by 10 points in the second quarter, and 53-44 early in the third before Akele and Diarra started dominating under Monaco’s rim. The visitors tied it at 62-62 in the final minute of the third quarter before opening the fourth with an 1-15 run to take a 66-77 lead. The hosts rallied, and Mike James hit a tough three to give Monaco an 82-81 advantage.
However, in the final minute, Virtus pulled down two of its 11 offensive rebounds, then made a defensive stand, all of which allowed Vildoza to get in a position to shoot – and make – the game-winner.
“We stayed in (it),” Vildoza said. “We never left the game even though they were making tough shots. We kept fighting. “
After back-to-back home losses last week, and defeats in three of the last four games, this win ensures that Virtus remains in the playoff hunt, just two wins out of 10th place in the standings.
