After missing a potential winner last week, DJ Steward sinks a decisive three and combines with DeVante’ Jones for 46 points in a vital road victory
Steward redeems himself with game-winner as Trento edges Lietkabelis
Report partita
3 Minuto di lettura
Regular Season
Round 15 of 18
Regular Season
group b
Lietkabelis PanevezysLIE
9394
Dolomiti Energia TrentoTRE
group b
Overview
l
l
l
w
l
w
w
l
w
w
Dolomiti Energia Trento certainly has developed a flair for dramatics of late in the BKT EuroCup as the Italian side prevailed in a second straight must-win game by a buzzer-beater - this time by DJ Steward, who had special motivation for the game-winner.
Steward drained a three-pointer from the top of the key to deliver Trento a 93-94 road victory at Lietkabelis Panevezys after losing a 16-point lead to improve to 9-6, including six wins in the last seven games.
“Just wanted to come out with the win. I made a couple of mistakes down the stretch, but I just focused in and stayed locked in to the game and came out with the win,” said Steward, who finished the game with a career-high 22 points.
The American guard is playing his first season in Europe and it was noteworthy that he took the game-winner. Trento was trailing by one point last week against Panionios Cosmorama Travel Athens in the closing seconds and Steward attempted a jumper but missed. Khalif Battle ended up getting an offensive rebound and putting in the game-winner at the buzzer.
Both Panionios and Lietkabelis were already eliminated coming into these respective games, meaning Trento faced the added pressure of getting a win as it fights for the playoffs.
Steward dedicated the victory to his mother, whose birthday was on Tuesday.
“I am happy for DJ. He deserves to have this kind of responsibility and make these shots that will grow his confidence and his growth,” said Trento head coach Massimo Cancellieri, who also wished Steward’s mother a happy belated birthday.
"I always believe that if you win a game like this, it’s because you are there. If you take a shot, it’s not a lucky shot, it’s a shot you wanted to take. And he made it."
Steward was just one half of a dominant starting backcourt for Trento as DeVante’ Jones poured in 24 points with 10 assists and 3 steals for an index rating of 43. Cheickh Niang added 14 points and Peyton Aldridge chipped in 10 points and 7 rebounds.
Trento had to play the game without starting big man Jordan Bayehe and Selom Mawugbe was limited because of foul trouble. So Cancellieri had to play most of the game with an extremely small lineup.
“It is tough for the players, not only the coaches. I have to congratulate the way that Aldridge and [Andrej[ Jakimovski grinded and impacted this big sized team,” the coach said.
Trento used a 2-20 run spanning the first two quarters to build a 15-31 advantage in the opening stage of the second period. Lietkabelis answered with 5 three-pointers in a 22-3 surge to pull ahead 37-34. But it was Trento that led at the break 49-52.
The visitors managed to extend the lead to 9 points, but Lietkabelis answered with a 15-0 spurt and was up 74-66 before Trento made it 74-69 after 30 minutes.
Trento finally reclaimed the lead at 83-84 and after four more lead changes, Kristian Kullamae looked to have given Lietkabelis the win with a three-pointer for a 93-91 lead with 18 seconds.
But Steward saved the day for Trento.
Lietkabelis was hoping for its first home win since Round 1 but has now lost seven straight games in front of its home fans to fall to 3-12. Jamel Morris scored 24 points, Kullamae had 17 points and Fardaws Aimaq chipped in 10 points and 9 rebounds.
“We lost the game in an unlucky way, but we lost the game before. We played terribly in the first quarter - without running, without playing defense,” said Lietkabelis head coach Nenad Canak.
