Marco Belinelli leads Virtus past ASVEL, 64-77
Virtus Segafredo Bologna completed a perfect double-round week in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season by topping LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 64-77 at the Astroballe on Friday night. Virtus improved to 11-12 in the standings and grabbed its first EuroLeague road win since early January, while ASVEL dropped to 8-15 after losing its two games this week.
Marco Belinelli paced the winners with 21 points off the bench. Toko Shengelia added 10, and five other Virtus players scored between 5 and 7 points in this game. Nando De Colo led ASVEL with 15 points and 6 assists. Youssoupha Fall added 11 points, and Amine Noua had 10 for the hosts.
Game Videos
Shengelia and Daniel Hackett fueled a 2-9 Virtus run that Kyle Weems capped with a bomb from downtown. Dee Bost and De Colo each buried a three-pointer in a 10-0 ASVEL run that gave the hosts their first lead, 12-9. Virtus increased its physicality and found a go-to guy in Belinelli, who scored 5 points in a 0-12 run that boosted the guests' lead to 14-23 early in the second quarter. Belinelli buried two more shots from beyond the arc and also made a jumper to keep Virtus fully in charge, 26-35. David Lighty and Charles Kahudi brought ASVEL within 37-39 at halftime.
ASVEL tied the game, 44-44, on a wild buzzer-beating three-pointer by Kahudi. Isaia Cordinier stepped up for Virtus with 5 quick points, getting help from Bako and Hackett to regain a 48-55 lead after 30 minutes. Belinelli struck again from beyond the arc, then Alessandro Pajola followed a fall-away jumper with a catch-and-shoot corner triple that broke the game open, 48-63, with eight minutes remaining. Noua and Fall tried to change things for ASVEL, but Belinelli stayed unstoppable, allowing Virtus to seal the outcome long before the final buzzer.