Pullen leads Cedevita to big win in Bologna, 74-86

Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana took an important step forward in the standings by downing Virtius Segafredo Arena 74-86 on the road on Wednesday.

Regular Season

Round 15 of 18

game Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana vs Virtus Segafredo Bologna

Regular Season

group b

Virtus Segafredo BolognaVIR

7486

Cedevita Olimpija LjubljanaCOL

group b

Overview

l

w

l

w

The result left both teams with 8-7 records in Group B. While Cedevita won its fifth straight game, Virtus registered its third home loss of the season. Jacob Pullen led the winners with 20 points, Jaka Blazic added 18, Edo Muric scored 14 and Yogi Ferrell and Zoran Dragic each had 11 for Cedevita. Toko Shengelia led Virtus with 14 points in his debut. Mam Jaiteh and Kyle Weems each added 11 for the hosts. Jaiteh collected 13 rebounds for a double-double.

Muric got Cedevita going with a baseline jumper and Blazic matched Weems's close basket with a driving layup. After Weems scored in the low post, Ferrell and Amar Alibegovic traded three-pointers. Dragic dunked off a steal for a 7-9 Cedevita lead. Alen Omic scored in transition and Blazic struck from downtown to boost the guests' lead to 7-14. Pullen bettered Weems's fastbreak layup with a triple. Shengelia joined the three-point shootout and Weems scored again to make it 14-17. Pullen added a jumper and Dragic a layup, but Milos Teodosic brought the hosts even closer, 19-21. Pullen kept pushing Cedevita and got help from Auguste and Blazic to boost the lead to 24-31 after 10 minutes.

Jakarr Sampson scored down low early in the second quarter, but Pullen remained unstoppable and his fourth triple boosted Cedevita's lead to double digits, 26-36. Marko Radovanovic found his first points and Ferrell buried a jumper off the dribble for a 27-39 score. Muric erased Amedeo Tessitori's off-balance basket with a layup and Ferrell struck from beyond the arc, prompting Virtus to call timeout at 29-44. Shengelia downed a jumper and got help from Teodosic and Jaiteh to get the hosts closer, 37-47. Jaiteh scored around the basket and Shengelia buried a catch-and-shoot triple to make it 42-49. Dragic and Jaiteh traded layups to fix the halftime score at 44-51.

Shengelia stepped up for Virtus with a layup soon after the break and a big block on Dragic. Muric answered from beyond the arc, Jaiteh hit a jump hook and Blazic soon set a 48-56 Cedevita margin. Muric insisted from three-point range and Ferrell erased Jaiteh's wild put-back basket with a floater. Sampson tried to change things with an off-balance three-point play, as Cedevita had started to miss open shots. Auguste rescued the guests with a big basket in the low post and matched Isaia Cordinier's triple with his own shot from downtown, off the glass, giving the visitors a 58-68 margin after 30 minutes.

Cordinier stepped up for the hosts early in the fourth quarter but Pullen's floater restored a double-digit Cedevita lead, 60-70, with 8 minutes left. Shengelia stepped up with back-to-back layups off spin moves. Blazic rescued Cedevita by burying consecutive three-pointers that kept the guests in charge, 64-76. Blazic insisted from beyond the arc to break the game open, 64-79, with 4 minutes remaining. Alessandro Pajola joined the three-point shootout, but Muric hit free throws and Pullen added a layup to seal the outcome, 68-84, in the next-to-last minute.