Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz led from start to finish en route to a 78-62 win over the visiting last-place EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 78-62 on Thursday night at Buesa Arena. The win improved Baskonia to 6-5, while Milan dropped to 3-8 with its seventh straight defeat.
Baskonia runs past reeling Milan, 78-62
Baskonia used a 13-2 run to finish the first quarter with a 15-point lead and never allowed Milan closer than 5 points the rest of the game. Led by Brandon Davies, the visitors did close within 40-35, but another 13-2 run, this one in the third quarter, opened a 16-point margin and Milan never threatened again. Darius Thompson had 15 points and 7 assists and Daulton Hommes scored 11 to lead the winners. Davies collected 23 points plus 12 rebounds for Milan while Devon Hall netted 14 points in defeat.
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Hommes quickly picked up 2 personal fouls in the first 70 seconds of the game, but then knocked down 3 triples in the next 3 minutes to get Baskonia going. Thompson and Rokas Giedraitis then sparked a 13-2 run as Baskonia held the visitors without a field goal the final 5 minutes of the quarter, opening a 24-9 lead. Three-pointers, one apiece from Hall and Nicolo Melli, gave Milan life as Baskonia needed exactly 5 minutes for its first field goal of the second quarter. But with baskets few and far between, Baskonia kept its lead safe and took a 38-27 advantage into halftime.
Davies had a jumper and a triple to cut the margin to 40-35 early in the third, but three-pointers from Thompson and Markus Howard restored a double-digit margin and sparked another 13-2 run which opened a 53-37 lead. A triple from Tomasso Baldasso helped halve the deficit and Baldasso hit another one early in the fourth to cut it to 56-48. Pierria Henry fueled a 6-0 run before back-to-back threes from Henry and Thompson made it 68-51 and Baskonia cruised to victory.