Marcelo Nicola wins in his first game as head coach for Nutribullet Treviso Basket as the Venetians stay alive above relegation to defeat Openjobmetis Varese 89-80.
Giordano Bortolani was the man of the match for Treviso leading all players with 23 points, tying his season-high from two previous games vs. Napoli and Pesaro, and four rebounds and two assists. Four other players scored for the Nutribullet team. DeWayne Russell scored 17 points, Henry Sims recorded a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, Tomas Dimsa netted 11, and Michael Sokolowski scored 10.
Treviso started off strong with a 26-16 lead at the end of the first quarter. However, Varese would waste no time as Marcus Keene in two minutes with three triples to begin Q2. Treviso would maintain a single-digit lead with the big man in Henry Sims putting points in the paint. The lead would get as low as one with a minute to go, thanks to a Paulius Sorokas three-pointer and two free throws, until Russell put up a jumper inside the arc. Sorokas would then tie the game at 45 with five seconds until Bortolani jumped in two points to beat the buzzer for a 47-45 lead at halftime.
To begin the second half, Varese would explode on a 6-0 run in five minutes to go up to four for their first lead of the day, the go-ahead bucket of a three-pointer by Anthony Beane on the stats sheet. The run would end at the 5:12 mark as Sokalowski made a pair of free throws to cut the lead down in half. The lead would grow for the Openjobmetis team to be as big as six with a jumper from Justin Reyes and a free throw from Keene. Treviso then began a 6-0 run of theirs to tie it at 63 with 49 seconds to go, thanks to another field goal by Bortolani. Reyes would use back-to-back shots to grow it back up to four while Sokolowski sunk another pair of free throws to make it a 67-65 lead for Varese with 10 minutes to go.
The teams would answer back on each other’s field goals back and forth. When one team tied, the other would answer back. With 4:35 to go, Bortolani would start to cook, first with the go-ahead bucket and then another three and the foul moments later to complete a four-point play, in part of a 9-2 run. Along with Andriu Tomas Woldetensae, Keene tried shots from deep to cut the gap but couldn’t as Russell threw the Bankshot dagger up in the paint with 40 seconds left to give Treviso an 89 80 win.
Varese also had five players in double digit scoring with Paulius Sorokas leading with 19 points, Siim-Sander Vene scored 18, Marcus Keene netted in 16, while Anthony Beane and Justin Reyes each had 10.
The win for Treviso improves to 10-14 and puts them two positions and four points above relegation, while Varese drops to 11-14 and is in a five-way tie for the eighth and final playoff spot.
Treviso next is on the road @ Sassari on Wednesday, while Varese hosts Trieste on Wednesday.
