Missed opportunity

21-11-2007 01:16

Benetton Tamoil Treviso finally collected its first victory in Group H of the ULEB Cup with an 89-82 win over Lukoil Academic. Pops Mensah-Bonsu collected 16 points and 15 rebounds and Matteo Soragna scored 16 points for the Italian powerhouse, which improved to 1-2 in the group. Lionel Chalmers played a major role in the victory as well with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Treviso remains on the road and travels next week to Artland Dragons. The Bulgarian champs trailed only 78-77, but committed two turnovers and saw the Italians run away. Willie Deane paced Academic with 20 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. Murilo Da Rosa added 17 points and Pero Antic chipped in 16 points in the loss. Lukoil fell to 1-2 with the loss and next week host Group H leader BC Kyiv.

Da Rosa opened the scoring with free throw for the guests, and Academic pushed the lead to 1-11 on three-pointers by Antic and Riste Stefanov. The advantage reached 5-17 after Da Rosa's basket midway through the first period and back-to-back baskets by Da Rosa pushed the margin to 8-21. The hosts were able to trim the deficit to 21-26 on Mensah-Bonsu's foul shots. But Academic led 21-30 after one period. After Mensah-Bonsu opened the quarter with two baskets, Chalmers scored Treviso's next 10 to grab the lead. Antic temporarily stopped the run with a three-pointer, but Chalmers knocked down his third three-ball of the quarter for a 43-37 advantage. Matteo Soragna drained back-to-back threes to make it 51-41 setting the stage for Benetton to take a 55-45 lead at the break. Donta Smith cut the deficit back to 6 only to see Mario Austin's long ball make it a 10-point game again at 59-49. Nenad Canak and Todor Stoykov each buried threes to complete an 0-10 run and knot the contest at 59-59. Marco Mordente's triple again pushed Treviso ahead 68-61 and the lead was 73-68 going into the fourth. Deane's foul shots cut it to 73-70 only to see Benetton use the long ball again as Rodrigo de la Feunte's three-pointer made it 76-70. Deane hit a triple of his own and followed it up with another basket to bring Academic within 78-77. Treviso scored three straight baskets and took advantage of two Lukoil turnovers to build an 85-77 cushion. The lead was pushed back to 11 points on Soragna's foul shots with less than two minutes remaining. Smith cut the deficit to 89-82 but it was not enough and Benetton celebrated its first ULEB Cup win.