Virtus Cruise Through After Adecco Triumph

Virtus Bologna cruised to a 91-73 win over hosts Adecco ASVEL and booked their place in Round II of the EuroCup.

Virtus' victory gives them a 4-1 win-loss record - the same as Group H rivals DTL EKA AEL Lemesos who will be joining them in the next stage.

“We played our best," said Virtus coach Zare Markovski.

"Adecco ASVEL did all they could with only seven players and there wasn’t a surprise tonight. Our qualification is not a surprise."

		Travis Best (Vidivici Virtus Bologna)

Christian Drejer was the star of the show for the visitors, claiming 29 points in total but it was not all plain sailing for his side.

They were behind for the majority of the first quarter and Adecco extended their lead to five points as the second-quarter got underway.

But a three-pointer from Brett Blizzard and two more points from Dejer a minute later restored parity at 27-27 with seven minutes to go before the halfway mark.

The hosts swiftly regained the lead with two points from Nouha Diakite and a pair of successful free-throws from Aymeric Jeanneau but a late flurry from Blizzard, Dejer and Ntousan Tsalikis-Vouktsevits saw Virtus take a 40-33 advantage at the end of the second.

The remaining two quarters were not nearly so competitive as Virtus ran their opponents ragged to extend their lead from seven points to 18 at the end of the game.

Travis Best finished with 18 points while Blizzard and Tsalikis-Vouktsevits also reached double figures with 11 points apiece, while Guilherme Giovannoni caught the eye by claiming six rebounds.

Amara Sy's 16 points kept the losing team in the game but a record of two wins and three defeats will not be enough to see them progress.

“The problem is not the defeat of tonight but the defeat against Limassol from last week," said ASVEL coach Yves Baratet.

"Tonight we had just seven players and it was very difficult for us. We are disappointed to leave this EuroCup because we wanted to play the second round."