The Spanish side is now 4-0 at Buesa Arena to start the season
Forrest, Baskonia hold off Milan, 88-83
Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz protected its home court once again, holding off visiting EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 88-83 on Tuesday night. Baskonia improved to 4-2 on the season, which is tied for the second best record in the league, and is perfect 4-0 at its Buesa Arena. Meanwhile, Milan dropped to 1-5.
Baskonia never trailed after opening the second quarter with a 12-0 run, but Milan did come back from a double-digit deficit to tie the game at 74-74. However, from that point, Trent Forrest scored 12 consecutive Baskonia points, keeping the hosts in front, as they finally prevailed.
Forrest finished with 22 points and 5 rebounds, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot scored 16, Chima Moneke had 11 points, while Kamar Baldwin collected 10 points and 7 assists for Baskonia. Khalifa Diop posted 9 points and 11 rebounds in the victory. On the other end, Nikola Mirotic had 21 points on 6-of-9 three-point shooting, Armoni Brooks scored 17 and Neno Dimitrijevic 15 points in defeat.
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The teams traded blows in the early going. Mirotic and Brooks each made a triple for the visitors, but Forrest scored 5 points on the other end, including a three-pointer of his own. Forrest also had a tough jumper, that made it 13-12, but Fabien Causeur knocked down a triple, and Gugliemo Caruso a three-point play to make it 14-18. Luwawu-Cabarrot scored 4 points for the host, but Dimitrijevic knocked down a corner triple that made it 20-21 after 10 minutes.
Baskonia stormed out of the gate in the second quarter, scoring four consecutive threes, two by Baldwin and two by Howard, to open 32-21 after only 2 and a half minutes. Mirotic and Giampaolo Ricci answered with back-to-back threes, before Moneke and Mirotic traded threes to make it 35-30. The long-distance shots kept falling for the hosts, as Nikolaos Rogkavopoulos sank one and Luwawu-Cabarrot a pair to open 45-34 margin. But Mirotic made his fourth and fifth three-point shots of the first half before Zach LeDay's three-point play helped cut it to 52-45 at halftime.
A pair of dunks, one by Donta Hall and another by Luwawu-Cabarrot, restored a double-digit margin, 56-45, but Josh Nebo, back after missing four games, had a put-back dunk and Mirotic's sixth three-pointer helped get within 56-52. Forrest netted a triple, but close-range baskets from Mirotic and Leandro Bolmaro helped the visitors get within 61-58. Luwawu-Cabarrot and Khalifa Diop gave Baskonia some breathing room, and the hosts took a 67-63 edge into the fourth quarter.
Dimitrijevic's triple cut the margin to 67-66 to start the fourth. Howard's triple made it 72-68, but Dimitrijevic scored 6 more points to help tie the game at 74-74. Forrest hit a three-pointer, but after a timeout, Brooks returned the favor, 77-77. Forrest scored the next 5 points for Baskonia, making it 82-78. Forrest had another jumper, but Nebo threw down a big dunk and then a block on Moneke then led to a Brooks triple and 84-83. But another basket from Forrest made it a 3-point affair, and after a defensive stand, Luwawu-Cabarrot sealed it from the free throw line.