Matt Morgan, Achille Polonara and Andrejs Grazulis combined for 45 points to overcome injury crisis
Unexpected trio stepped up to help Virtus against Baskonia
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Regular Season
Round 20 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Virtus Segafredo Bologna showed more depth than some expected in Round 20 as Matt Morgan, Achille Polonara and Andrejs Grazulis stepped up to help overcome injuries to some of the team’s top stars.
The trio combined for 45 points in an important 76-74 home win over Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz – a victory Virtus managed without injured superstars Will Clyburn, Toko Shengelia and Ante Zizic.
“We are a resilient team, no matter who is in the lineup, who is on the court. We’re going to fight until the very end,” Morgan told EuroLeague TV afterward. “That’s the identity that we started to build and create for ourselves. We just have to keep doing that for the rest of the season. And good things will happen.”
The EuroLeague rookie poured in 17 points to tie his career high from Round 6 against FC Bayern Munich and set a new personal-best PIR of 21. Morgan came into the game averaging just 7.0 points, yet he scored 10 of those points in the third quarter when Virtus built a 15-point lead. That came after some advice from the injured Clyburn.
“He means a lot to me because he said to me at halftime I need to be more aggressive so in the third quarter I came out and did that,” said Morgan. “All my teammates have confidence in me to be myself. I did that in the third quarter and was able to get us a little bit of a lead.”
Polonara knocked down 3 three-pointers en route to 15 points. The Italian veteran has shown this season that he can still produce with 13 points against Bayern in Round 6 and 17 points in Round 18 against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne. But in the other 17 games, Polonara had totaled just 47 points for an average of 4.1 points.
Grazulis, meanwhile, scored a total of 23 points in his first nine games of the season. The Latvian did pick up 12 points in the last round and then he scored 13 points against Baskonia – 10.5 points more than his average.
“That was a contribution of everybody today. We struggled with the roster a little bit – a lot of injuries but we stayed together. Today is the reward for a pretty good week of work,” said Isaia Cordinier, who tallied 16 points as one of Virtus’s few healthy leaders. “Winning today was really important and that is the way we need to play the rest of the season.”
Even if that means with big contributions from unexpected heroes.