Della Valle and Massinburg lifted efficient Brescia
Germani Brescia traveled to Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana for a key meeting between Group A’s bottom two teams on Wednesday night and showed more composure and efficiency in the crucial stages to grab a narrow 80-83 victory that ended a four-game losing run.
The Italian team dominated early on with new signings Aleksej Nikolic and Ryan Taylor making a mark on their debuts, but Cedevita roared back with a 16-2 run to lead at halftime and there was little to choose between the teams for the rest of the way.
Things looked bad for Brescia when Cedevita edged into a 7-point lead, 79-72, with just 2 and a half minutes to play, but that was when the visiting team’s two most trusted players took the game into their hands.
Amadeo Della Valle started the comeback by making a pair of free throws, before CJ Massinburg did the same and then Della Valle returned to the line for another 2 points and – in less than a minute – the deficit had been cut to just 1 point. Yogi Ferrell split free throws at the other end before Massinburg returned to the fore, scoring the game’s only field goal of the last 4:34 with a triple to take the lead, 80-81.
The one-two punch continued as Della Valle drew another foul and went back to the line for another successful pair of conversions, and that proved to be the final score of the game as Edo Muric sent his final shot too short, securing a vital road win.
And after 37 minutes of closely contested basketball, it was ultimately a win achieved through efficiency, with 8 successful free throw conversions without a miss, 0 turnovers and good rebounding to limit Cedevita’s chances of pulling out the win. And individually, it was the team’s two most consistent players, Massingburg (11.1 points per game) and Della Valle (14.2 ppg) who combined for all of the last 11 points, showing their leadership for a group of players that can now start to think about cementing a place in the playoff positions.