The hosts overcame adversity and a poor shooting night to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Sheer resilience saw Virtus force Bayern into submission
Virtus Segafredo Bologna stared defeat in the eyes for the lion’s share of an enthralling Round 18 contest against visiting Bayern Munich, but the Italian team dug deep in a dramatic finish to grind out an 85-83 home win and improve to 13-5.
The visitors dropped to 8-10 after they missed a chance to pull off an upset, having led 66-74 early in the fourth quarter before they were undone by a rock-solid Virtus defense. The hosts, who misfired from two-point territory and the foul line all night, were able to conjure a 17-5 run that turned the tide for good and stretched their winning home streak to nine games.
Isaia Cordinier, who slammed home a clutch put-back dunk to give Virtus an 81-79 lead in the home stretch, summed up his team’s die-hard attitude which saw the Italian outfit earn several such wins in the face of adversity this season.
“We took a punch and responded with a lot of resilience,” the guard said. “We have a great chemistry and we fight for each other.”
Virtus was 17 of 37 from two-point range, 12 of 28 beyond the arc and 15 off 22 from the foul line, but prevailed thanks to 12 offensive boards and 18 assists, having only committed 7 turnovers. The hosts also managed 7 steals against battling Bayern, which had 13 turnovers and ended the contest making 13 of 32 shots from downtown in the wake of the home team’s aggressive defense down the stretch.
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“Wins like this say a lot about our character, our identity and our DNA,” player of the game Toko Shengelia, who paced Virtus with 18 points, said as he walked off the court. “It also shows how much our fans mean to us. We are always happy playing at home, as the crowd gave us a lot of energy in the fourth quarter. Despite all the misses and the mistakes, we stayed consistent and played better defense in the second half,” he added.
Virtus head coach Luca Banchi praised Bayern as well as his own players.
“We faced a great team who played a great game and that makes our win even more important,” he said. “I believe we beat the best version of Bayern Munich and we responded despite not having the most inspired night. We found solutions, stayed together and continued to believe.”
With Bayern’s playmaker Carsen Edwards contained at crunch time after running the show for much of the evening and pouring a game-high 22 points, Banchi’s counterpart Pablo Laso conceded his team fell short when the chips were down.
“We played a pretty solid game at both ends but if you want to beat a team like Virtus, you have to take it play by play,” Laso said. “That means every shot, every rebound and every turnover. Credit to Virtus, they are a very solid team and they’re having a great season.”