ITA - Top two march on

ROME (Lega A) - Montepaschi Siena and VidiVici Bologna remain the pacesetters in Italy’s Lega A after winning their respective matches on Sunday.

Montepaschi were far too good for Upea Capo d’Orlando whom they dispatched 98-66.

Romain Sato paced the team from Tuscany with 17 points and six boards and there were also double digit contributions from Lonny Baxter (15), Vladimer Boisa (15) and Luigi Datome (10).

By the halfway mark, Carlo Recalcati’s side were 11 points to the good and they got even better in the second period.

Alvin Young was top scorer in a losing cause for Upea with 25 points.

VidiVici made much harder work of beating Air Avellino, in the end settling for an 85-80 win.

A three-pointer from Ramel Curry in the third period put Avellino in the lead but then Virtus (VidiVici) went on an 11-2 run to take control.

Andrea Pecile’s game high 27 points were in vain for Avellino.

Both Montepaschi and VidiVici have 9-2 records after 11 games with Armani Jeans Milano next best with 8-3 following an 85-67 win at the expense of Benetton Treviso.

The Milan team had a slender 39-36 lead at halfway but had pulled clear to 64-50 by the end of the third.

Travis Walton’s 14 points and nine boards were of key importance to Milano while Joseph Blair added 15. Marcus Goree, with 16 points, was top scorer for Benetton.

Whirlpool Varese slipped to 6-5 with a 90-79 setback at the hands of Premiata Montegranaro who had Ron Slay to thank for a game-high 22 points and 13 rebounds.

Varese trailed only 62-61 at the end of the third quarter but Slay saved his best for the final quarter to eclipse Giacomo Galanda.

He was six from six from the charity stripe and six from eight inside the arc although he missed the target in his two attempts from downtown.

Galanda’s late flurry gave him 17 points while Keith Carter managed 21 points for Whirlpool, coached by Argentina’s Olympic gold-medal winning boss Ruben Magnano.

Eldo Napoli recorded a 90-68 win over Legea Scafati built on another standout performance from Ansu Sesay whose nine boards and 18 points were both game highs.

Angelico Biella needed overtime to dispatch TiSettanta Cantu 114-109.

Reece Gaines top scored with 31 points for the victors but the contribution of Erik Daniels, with 19 points and 18 rebounds was crucial.

It was his throw on the buzzer that levelled the scores at 99-99 and took the game to overtime and Biella always looked in control in the extra period.

In the evening match, TDShop.it Livorno beat Bipop Carire Reggio Emilia 78-66.

The platform for the win was built in the third quarter. At the interval it was 31-31 but Livorno took the third period 25-10 and from then on Bipop looked a beaten side.

Brandon Hunter was huge for Livorno with 15 points and 17 rebounds, 14 of them defensive while Jason Rowe top scored for the winners with 22. It was Bipop’s Davide Lamma who recorded a game high 24 points.

On Saturday, James Thomas had paced Climamio Bologna to a 92-66 win over Lottomatica Roma with 16 points and 12 boards while Snaidero Cucine Udine eclipsed Siviglia Wear Teramo 93-84 with Jacob Jaacks contributing 24 points.

PA Sport