Six Virtus Segafredo Bologna players scored at least 7 points in its hard-fought 83-77 victory over ratiopharm Ulm, but Mam Jaiteh saved the day with 27 points as the only Virtus scorer in double figures.
Jaiteh saved the day for Virtus
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Jaiteh strengthened not only scored a career-high 27 points on 12-of-16 two-point shooting and 3-of-4 free throws, but he also grabbed 11 rebounds - 6 of them on the offensive glass - to go with 6 fouls drawn for a performance index rating of 38.
“The situation of one game - do or die - it’s very hard. But I am very happy and very proud of what we have done. We are still very hungry and have a lot of ambition. We want to get to the end. It’s one game. We need to enjoy tonight but we need to stay focused and be ready for the next one,” Jaiteh said afterward.
The French center is a major reason Virtus is two victories from winning the EuroCup and returning to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. The club was ravaged with injuries most of the season and the 28-year-old was the rock in the middle to hold everything together. Even when the injured players started coming back, Jaiteh did not slow down. In fact, he picked up his production even more.
Starting with a monster 24-point, 12-rebound, 41-PIR showing against Umana Reyer Venice in Round 14, Jaiteh scored at least 10 points and averaged 9.8 rebounds in the final five games of the regular season with an average PIR of 20.8. Jaiteh then poured in 20 points with 3 rebounds for an index rating of 18 in Virtus’s eighthfinals win over Lietkabelis Panevezys.
Ulm lacked a big man to counter Jaiteh and the Frenchman was downright dominant the whole game. He made sure his team’s run would not end early. With Virtus down by 4 points with 3 minutes left, Jaiteh started a personal 8-0 run including 3 offensive rebounds to help the team regain control and give fans another reason to vote him onto the All-EuroCup teams.