Ante Tomic of Joventut Badalona had a near-perfect performance in his team's home victory against MoraBanc Andorra. Tomic only played 18 minutes and 39 seconds but had time to score 18 points on perfect shooting. He made all 6 of his two-pointers and all 6 of his free throw attempts. 

Tomic’s line: close to perfection

Tomic added 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 block and 3 fouls drawn for a PIR of 30. His only negative actions in this game were a couple of turnovers and a foul committed. Tomic was close to his career-best PIR, which is 31 in a game with Joventut against Bahcesehir Koleji Istanbul on October 14, 2020. 

Virtus holds off Reyer in all-Italian clash, 90-84

The teams traded blows for the majority of the first half before Virtus used a 15-3 run to open a 42-32 lead. The hosts then started the third quarter with a 14-2 run to break the game open. Reyer came back within 3 points several times, but Virtus held on. Kevin Hervey led in victory with 26 points and Milos Teodosic had 22 points and 7 assists. Isaia Cordinier added 13 points for Virtus. Michele Vitali scored a career-high 26, Austin Daye had 15 points and 7 rebounds and Mitchell Watt added 13 points in a losing effort.

Hervey hit a three-pointer for Virtus in the early going, but Vitali scored 8 consecutive points for the visitors, including a pair of triples to make it 8-10. But close-range baskets from Teodosic and Hervey put Virtus back in front and started a 14-2 run during which Hervey and Cordinier scored inside and Ty-Shon Alexander hit from long range. Tarik Phillip nailed a triple late in the first quarter for Reyer to make it 24-15. 

Victor Sanders made a floater and Daye knocked down a three-pointer early in the second to trim the margin to 24-20. Cordinier had a basket-plus-foul for the hosts, but Watt scored 7 straight points, including a three-point play that put Reyer up 27-29 midway through the quarter. Hervey quickly restored Virtus's lead, and the hosts kept making defensive stops. Teodosic scored 7 points, including a turnaround triple to open a 40-31 margin, and the hosts went up by 10 before Phillip's triple and Vitali's jumper made it 45-37 at halftime.

Virtus scored the first 6 points of the third quarter, with Mam Jaiteh and Hervey scoring from close range. The hosts did not allow a basket for more than 3 minutes to open the second half, before a triple apiece from Kyle Weems and Hervey helped open a 59-39 lead. Watt snapped the drought before Vitali and Daye each had a three-pointer to halve the deficit, 61-51. Hervey snapped a 0-10 run, and Virtus took a 69-59 advantage into the fourth quarter. 

Vitali and Hervey traded triples to open the fourth before Martynas Echodas fought for a put-back dunk and Jeff Brooks had a basket-plus-foul to cut it to 72-68. Teodosic had a three-point play and a floater, but Sanders had a long jumper and a three-pointer before Daye banked in a tough runner to make it 79-76. Teodosic fed Jaiteh for a layup, but Daye's tough triple with 1:39 to go cut it again to 84-81. Another assist from Teodosic set up another easy layup, this time for Hervey, and then Teodosic took it to the rim himself to seal the deal in the final minute.

Virtus Segafredo Bologna v Umana Reyer Venice (2021-11-16T19:30:00.000Z)

Virtus finished the night by forcing 20 turnovers and swiping 14 steals. It led to many transition baskets for Virtus, which thrives in those situations with Milos Teodosic running the offense. After Tuesday's game, Virtus is the season leader in steals, with 10.2 per game, and one of only three teams in the competition averaging 10 or more steals.

What's in the steals?

What makes this interesting is that after Tuesday night there have been only six games this season where a team had 13 or more steals. It is astonishing that half of those six performances belong to Virtus, which previously had 13 steals in a win over ratiopharm Ulm and a loss against Buducnost VOLI Podgorica. 

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Virtus used two big runs, first late in the second quarter and another to open the third quarter to turn a small deficit into a 20-point lead and pave its way to victory. Reyer was up 27-29 with 4:40 to go in the second quarter, but Virtus scored the next 6 points to spark a 15-3 run during which made it 42-32. 

Big runs paved way for Virtus

Virtus pulled away to a 20-point lead at the start of the third quarter. The hosts did not allow a point for more than 3 minutes to open the second half, scoring the first 6 points of the third quarter then back-to-back triples from Kyle Weems and Kevin Hervey in a 14-2 run that opened a 59-39 margin. Reyer melted the margin, but these two runs were the key for Virtus on this night.

This is what the protagonists of the game had to say after such a close deal down the stretch.

Post-Game Quotes: Virtus 90-84 Reyer


### Sergio Scariolo, Virtus Segafredo Bologna
"I am extremely pleased with this win. I think it is one of those wins which makes you grow as a team. One of the wins I am most proud of in this first part of the season. We had to navigate through a lot of difficulties, game-ending injuries, foul trouble. And I want to give special credit to Milos Teodosic and Kevin Hervey who made a special personal effort to play this game. For different reasons, they might have not played this game. I am really proud of them, how they stepped up and showed their commitment. We played many great minutes on both ends of the floor. Our defense was really good during many many many minutes, a little bit more every day. I think we lost a few rebounds which we should have controlled more but our guards got to help more on that, and of course, our bigs need to make a better effort. But overall, against a tough team like Venice, very experienced, very organized, very solid and tough, I think we did a really good job. I think we ended up really gassed at the end, people had to make a special effort to compensate for a shorter rotation. But we still did not give up, tried to play with energy, play with high intensity and in the end we were really out of gas. But we could keep the grip on the game, and held against their very good comeback."



### Walter De Raffaele, Umana Reyer Venice
"Congratulations to Virtus. At the end, they probably deserved to win this game. For our game, we played almost good in the first two quarters. We tried to compete in every situation. We had a really bad starttof the third quarter where we really struggled in every situation, and we had a great comeback. The difference at the end were details, like turnovers, executions. We had a chance to tie the game, but we struggled a lot. Then in the end, Teodosic managed all the situations."



### Kevin Hervey, Virtus Segafredo Bologna
"It feels good to win. We have some guys out right now, some guys banged up. But we fought. That is what we do, we fight."


A big reason why Reyer was not out of this game until the very last minute, despite being down by 20 points midway through the third quarter, was Michele Vitali. The Reyer guard was hot from the start, stringing together 8 points in the opening minutes and he continued in that manner throughout the night. Vitali stopped at 26 points, shattering his previous career-high of 12. 

Vitali's career night

On the night, playing almost 32 minutes, Vitali made both of his two-point shots, knocked down 5 of 7 triples and was perfect in 7 trips to the free-throw line. He added 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals to his tally. His PIR 36 also shattered his previous best of 16 and was the best for a Reyer player in more than two years.

Vince Hunter dominated the paint to lead Boulogne Metropolitans 92 to an 84-94 road win over Hamburg Towers on Tuesday night at Edel-optics.de Arena. 

Metropolitans get their first road win in Hamburg, 84-94

Hunter racked up 26 points with just 2 missed shots and grabbed 14 rebounds to help the team improve to 3-2 in Group A with its first road win of the season. Metropolitans led for most of the game, but Hamburg never gave in and clawed its way to within 4 with 4 minutes remaining, but Hunter and Keith Hornsby helped the visitors finish strong. Will Cummings added 14 points and 6 assists for Metropolitans, Hornsby finished with 12 points and 5 assists and David Michineau also scored 12 for the victors. Caleb Homesley paced Hamburg with 29 points and Jaylon Brown added 18. The loss dropped Hamburg to 1-4. 

Hunter established himself early by winning the opening tip, scoring on the first possession and grabbing some defensive rebounds. Jaylon Brown got the hosts on the scoreboard before Justus Hollatz’s steal and slam gave Hamburg its first lead, 6-4. Hunter scored twice in a 0-8 run as Metropolitans too control. Cummings stretched the lead to 7 before Zach Brown and Hornsby traded threes. Ray McCallum gave the Hamburg attack a spark and Eddy Edigin’s slam made it 19-22 after 10 minutes. 

 Nobel Boungou-Colo knocked down a three from the corner with his first touch to give Metropolitans some breathing room, but Hamburg fired right back through McCallum free throws and a three by Lukas Meisner to tie the score, 27-27. The visitors regrouped after a timeout and a dunk-plus-foul by Hunter made it 30-34. Michineau kept the visitors rolling and Hunter stretched the margin to 33-42. Homesley responded with 5 quick points, which prompted a Metropolitans timeout. Tomer Ginat made big plays at both ends, including a jumper in the final seconds of the second quarter, to give Metropolitans a 42-46 lead at the break.  

Hamburg cut the deficit to 2 with baskets by Hollatz and Seth Hinrichs on the team's first two possessions of the second half. Cummings stepped up to keep Metropolitans ahead, however, back-to-back threes by Robin Christen and Homesley gave Hamburg the lead, 54-53. Metropolitans regrouped and surged to its first double-digit lead, 58-68, after a triple by Cummings and a pair of shots from downtown by Konate Lahaou. Homesley heated up with a steal, a layup and a triple and Lukas Meisner dunked seconds after a Zach Brown block to complete a 9-0 run that git Hamburg within 1. Free throws by Miralem Halilovic gave Metropolitans a 67-70 edge through three quarters.

After Meisner missed a shot to tie it, Hornsby added to Metropolitans’ lead at the other end. Hamburg was held without points for 3 and half minutes at the start of the fourth and Hornsby drained another three to restore a double-digit lead, 67-77. The hosts used a timeout and scored the next 5 points to halve the deficit. A three by Jaylon Brown made it 77-81 with 4 minutes remaining. A three-point-play on the offensive glass by Hunter kept the visitors in control and a series of offensive rebounds on the next possessions helped drain the clock. A three by Jaylon Brown gave Hamburg hope, but baskets by Hunter and Hornsby proved too much to overcome. 

Hamburg Towers v Boulogne Metropolitans 92 (2021-11-16T18:30:00.000Z)

Caleb Homesley had his best game yet for Hamburg Towers in a tough loss against Boulogne Metropolitans 92. The shooting guard went for 29 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in compiling a performance index rating of 32.

Homesley sparkles for Hamburg 

Homesley also drained 5 three-pointers from 11 attempts. The scoring, three-point and PIR totals are all the most in Hamburg’s young history in the competition and it is looking like the Hamburg record books will be filled with his name by the end of their debut campaign. 

Vince Hunter set several career-high and some club records in leading Boulogne Metropolitans 92 to a road win over Hamburg Towers. He made 12 of 14 two-pointers and scored 26 points, which were both personal bests.

Pivotal performer: Hunter shines bright

Hunter’s previous highs were 9 two-pointers, which he did twice, and 23 points for Virtus Segafredo Bologna last season against JL Bourg en Bresse. His PIR of 41 smashed his previous best of 32, which came earlier this season against Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar. That PIR is also the best in cub history, eclipsing Assem Marei’s 38 against Germani Brescia last season. It was also the best shooting performance ever by a Metropolitans player with at least 10 baskets. His 85.7% was better than Sharrod Ford’s 12 for 15 (80%) against another German team, Telekom Bonn, in December 2014.