It was a special night for the Italian duo, and both of them delivered in their home country
Procida, Spagnolo enjoyed homecoming win against Virtus
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Regular Season
Round 13 of 34
Group Regular Season
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ALBA Berlin had to battle for 45 minutes to beat Virtus Segafredo Bologna 88-90 in overtime in Round 13, improving its record to 3-10 in the process. In particular, ALBA's players with links to Italian basketball made sure their names were noticed at Virtus Segafredo Arena.
Gabriele Procida started the game on fire, getting 9 quick points, including a show-stopping dunk that gave ALBA an early 11-19 lead. He kept pacing his team throughout the game, finishing it with 20 points on 6-of-8 two-pointers, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a PIR of 16. It was not a regular game for Procida, born in Como, barely 50 kilometers away from Milan and less than 300km away from Bologna.
Asked about being in Italy after the game, Procida confirmed that a lot of people came to see him play. "Everybody from my family: my aunt, my parents... everybody. It was just a game but I had a lot of friends and family here, so it was a special game," Procida said. "Coming back to Italy to play against a great team like Virtus, in this arena, with these crazy fans, was very good."
On the other hand, Matteo Spagnolo is from Brindisi, almost in the southern end of Italy. Spagnolo had an all-around performance and stepped up in key moments of the game, hitting 5-of-5 free throws in clutch time and missing the sixth attempt on purpose to run the game clock down. When the dust settled, Spagnolo had 10 points, a career-high 8 rebounds, 5 assists and a PIR of 16.
Procida and Spagnolo were not the only players with links to Italian basketball. David McCormack started the 2024-25 EuroLeague season with EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, seeing very limited playing time. In five previous games, one of them against ALBA, McCormack averaged 1.9 points, 1.1 rebounds and a PIR of -0.3.
McCormack started against Virtus and proved to be a really solid addition, getting 16 points, 14 rebounds, 4 steals and a block for a PIR of 24. McCormack's arrival, added to the fact that backcourt stars Martin Hermannsson and Matt Thomas are back in action, made ALBA a solid team.
The American center stated that a quick adjustment helped him get good individual results right away. "You have to learn fast, you have to adjust fast. But one thing about my game is I play hard and I play with passion, and that translates to every team," McCormack said. "A lot has paid off, a lot of hard work. I'm thankful."
Hustle was there, too. ALBA finished the game with 21 offensive rebounds, a new club record. It had previously grabbed 19 offensive boards in a 67-71 home loss against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne on October 8, 2021. As many as eight ALBA players grabbed at least 1 offensive board and ALBA outrebounded Virtus 42-54. Those 54 rebounds are a EuroLeague season high and the best mark in a game since the four-overtime instant classic between Real Madrid and Anadolu Efes Istanbul. ALBA had never grabbed more than 46 rebounds in a EuroLeague game before.