Coach Ivanovic’s side knocked down 18 triples in the win
Virtus sets club three-point record in victory over Efes
Отчеты о матчах
3 Минутное чтение
Regular Season
Round 10 of 38
Regular Season
Virtus BolognaVIR
9989
Anadolu Efes IstanbulEFS
Overview
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“It’s not easy, but I always say, it’s ALL luck,” Carsen Edwards joked. “I just put it up in the air, give it a chance and hopefully it falls in. It’s all luck.”
Edwards had just spearheaded Virtus Bologna’s offense with 21 points and 5 three-pointers, as they rallied to defeat Anadolua Efes Istanbul, 99-89. In doing so, Virtus made history by draining 18 triples in the game, bettering the previous club record of 16, set in 2023 against AS Monaco.
On a night when Basketball City marked the passing of former player and Cup Winners' Cup champion Michael “Sugar” Ray Richardson with a respectful minute of silence, the home crowd was in full voice. The Black V faithful had plenty to sing about, too, in what may be the penultimate game at the Paladozza.
Coach Dusko Ivanovic’s men played a selfless brand of basketball throughout. Virtus had averaged 19 team assists for the season, but managed to dish out 27 against an Efes team that fought to keep up with the effective ball movement.
Alen Smailagic’s well-rounded performance saw him tally 17 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, while making 5 of his 7 attempts from downtown. Edwards led the way in scoring for the victors with 21, hitting some of the tough shots joked about when it mattered the most. Matt Morgan’s 13 bench points played a huge role and Luca Vildoza sent a game-high 7 dishes to keep his team ticking along.
Returning to his former basketball home for the first time since leaving Bologna in the summer, Efes’s Isaia Cordinier suffered a rough night, going 0-4 from three-point land and logging just 4 points. Shane Larkin had no such troubles, leading the game in scoring with 25, earning 5 assists and committing just 2 turnovers, as he kept his team in the game until the end.
“Our fans help us so much,” Ivanovic stated. “We enjoy it here. Tonight, we won through offense. In the third quarter, we shot excellent and in the last quarter, we played defense a little bit better.”
The excellence of the shooting in this game cannot be overstated. Staggeringly, both teams had made 12 three-point shots by the 26-minute mark. However, Efes was not able to sustain that level of accuracy, unlike its dead-eye opponents. Down the stretch, Efes could not defend the arc and Coach Igor Kokoskov felt Virtus received a little help from above.
“They made some tough shots, some tough threes,” said Kokoskov. “Defending at the three-point line wasn’t really there, but they made a lot of threes, some lucky ones, so God wasn’t really on our side tonight.”
Creating some lasting Paladozza memories, the Virtus fans pulled their team over the line, according to Smailagic.
“Feels amazing, especially with these fans, who are our sixth player,” Smailagic said. “We play much better at home because we feel their love and energy. They push us to give it our all. This is our castle, we have to defend it.”
..and defend it they did. The 10-point victory means that Virtus moves to 5-5 for the season, while Efes slides to 3-7. There will be no rest for the wicked in this double-game week, as Virtus faces FC Barcelona on Friday, after Efes battles FC Bayern Munich just hours earlier.
