After a back and forth opening 20 minutes, the Italian side took over after the break.
With lessons learned, Virtus got past Maccabi with a controlled second half
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Regular Season
Round 13 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Virtus Segafredo Bologna showed once again this week that it has learned its lessons from tough previous games, as it used a controlled second half to fend off Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 100-90 in an up-tempo shootout in Round 13 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season.
The lead changed hands 17 times in the first half, with 11 ties, but Virtus led from start to finish in the second half as it improved to 9-4 and 7-1 at home, following seven straight home wins.
Virtus had an answer for Maccabi after halftime
Virtus pulled ahead by as many as 11 points in the second half but watched Maccabi close to within 2 points. Still, Luca Banchi’s team remained resilient and focused on offense and answered every Maccabi charge, having never trailed in the second half.
“I am very happy with the mental consistency of the team,” said the Virtus boss.
After all, Banchi’s team had already been through some big swings in games this season.
Virtus led by 15 points in the first game of the season but ended up losing 79-82 against Zalgiris Kaunas. In Round 6, Virtus trailed by 9 points but grabbed a 93-81 win over Anadolu Efes Istanbul.
Virtus was down by just 5 points in the fourth quarter against Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens but lost the fourth quarter 28-13 in a 90-76 Round 9 loss. And in Round 11 at FC Bayern Munich, Virtus was up by 14 points but again struggled in the fourth quarter with a 20-10 frame and lost 90-76.
Virtus then had a comeback victory earlier this week, charging back from 16 points down to beat FC Barcelona 80-75.
Taking care of the ball
And against Maccabi, the biggest change in the second half was controlling the ball better. After committing 10 turnovers in the first 20 minutes, Virtus lost the ball only twice in the second half.
“We’ve been in these situations before where we have been up and somehow let the game slip out of our hands,” said star forward Toko Shengelia, who had another outstanding game with 27 points and 8 rebounds.
“So we learned from our mistakes. Today was all about increasing the lead and controlling the tempo. And we did that step by step. Everybody stepped up on defense and it was a great team effort.”