Hemofarm Takes Third

Virtus Roma vs Hemofarm: 75-77

For most of the first quarter, Serb forward Vladimir Tica practically played one-on-five against the entire Virtus lineup. With seven minutes gone, the score was 12-12, 10 of which came from the hands of the Hemofarm player. In the second quarter, Hemofarm began to build a lead, and with the score 24-19 in favor of the Serbian team, Pierre Bucchi put into the game the best player from last night’s game: Marko Tusek. The forward promptly hit a 3-pointer, but then disappeared. As in the game with CSKA, Virtus center Rashard Griffith couldn’t get things going. The American picked up four fouls and quickly sat down on the bench. Hemofarm, on the other hand, got big production from Neboijsa Bogavac (13 points in the first half) and Sasa Vasiljevic (10 points by halftime). With only a few seconds remaining in the half, Bennerman missed a chance to cut the lead, missing a 3-pointer. The teams went into the locker room with Hemofarm leading 39-29.

Virtus came out stronger in the second half, and Hemofarm’s lead began to dwindle. In the game’s 24th minute, the Italians trailed by only four points, 43-39. Griffith entered the game with five minutes remaining in the quarter. The Virtus center immediately scored 2 points and cut the lead even more. If not for Hemofarm captain Bogovac, who scored 25 points on the night, the Italian club might have caught their opponents in the third quarter. At the end of the quarter the Serbs broke down the Italian defense, and Tic scored to put them up 58-52.

Even having lost Griffith to fouls at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Virtus continued to fight back. With six minutes left in the game, the Italians took the lead for the first time. But seconds later Hemofarm took back the lead, 63-61. Tusek picked up his fourth foul, and the Italian head coach took a timeout. After the timeout, Alex Righetti picked up his fifth foul, having scored 12 points. Virtus didn’t give up until the final buzzer, but a 3-pointer by Tica in the final minute gave Hemofarm a 77-75 win. The Serbs took third place, and Bogovac was the game’s most valuable player with 30 points.