The duo made light of top scorer Carsen Edwards’s absence
Matt Morgan, Derrick Alston shine as Virtus overpowers Milan in Derby d’Italia
Informes de partidos
3 Min lectura
Regular Season
Round 19 of 38
Regular Season
Virtus BolognaVIR
9785
EA7 Emporio Armani MilanEA7
Overview
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Virtus Bologna celebrated a memorable 97-85 home win over EA7 Emporio Armani Milan in an enthralling Derby d'Italia after Matt Morgan and Derrick Alston combined for 42 points and the hosts roared back from a 15-point deficit.
Trailing 23-38 in the second quarter, Virtus went on a 16-1 run after 38-year-old veteran Daniel Hackett came off the bench and got the home team firing on all cylinders with a burst of energy which also galvanized the passionate Bologna crowd.
Virtus, which missed its injured pack leader Carsen Edwards, enjoyed an impressive night from downtown as Morgan, the game’s top scorer on 22 points, sank 5-of-8 beyond the three-point arc and Alston (20) netted 4-of-5, with the hosts draining 12-of-24 while their relentless hustle held Milan to 6-of-25 at the other end.
That made all the difference as Virtus kept its EuroLeague home record intact against Milan, notching a fourth successive win over its perennial Italian rival in a fast-paced game. Alston revealed that he had put in a lot of hard work to improve his long-range shooting, as he scored multiple threes for the eighth successive game.
“We put a lot of work over the summer to be more consistent from three-point range as being efficient has always been a big thing,” he said. “I am thankful to my coaches who are shooting with me every day after practice as consistency is the name of the game and I’m just trying to keep that up.”
With Virtus also missing big man Alen Smailagic through injury, Alston acknowledged the whole team went the extra mile to compensate for the absence of several key players.
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the heart in the dog. Everybody had belief that we could win this game and it was always the next man mentality. The energy was so great from everybody tonight; the team, the crowd. It’s a great environment to play in.”
Morgan dished out 7 assists, too, while Saliou Niang constituted a wall in the paint at both ends as he racked up 11 points and 8 boards. Karim Jallow chipped in with 12 points and 5 rebounds, Luca Vildoza netted 10 points, and the inspirational Hackett added 8, making some crunch shots from deep.
“We fought too hard to lose this game,” Morgan said in his postgame comments. “We were down a few people and we fought way too hard to take that lead and keep it. In the last four minutes we produced a great end to the game. We knew what we had to do, we came out and handled the business to protect the home court. Our fans gave us a huge boost of energy and we needed it, so on to the next one.”
With the rivals level 47-47 at halftime, Virtus found two extra gears in the third quarter and romped into a 77-66 lead ahead of the final 10 minutes. Milan had any hopes of a comeback vanquished by Virtus as the home outfit carved out an insurmountable 89-74 advantage in the home stretch, leaving head coach Dusko Ivanovic purring with delight after the final buzzer.
“The players did an excellent job with so much energy,” the Montenegrin tactician said. “It was a difficult game but the players showed patience and focus on offense, having also displayed good chemistry and a good mentality. You can win or lose a game, but we played as a team and that’s very good. “
Ivanovic’s Milan counterpart Pepe Poeta was realistic after tasting defeat in his first derby, acknowledging that his team’s porous defense let in too many points.
“We only played how we’re supposed to play for 15 minutes,” he said. “The rest of the game we played poor defense and we have to know that you cannot allow the opponents to score [almost] 100 points, especially when we are on the road. There’s no way you can win if you concede that many, that’s what it’s all about.”
