In Game 3 of the Italian League finals, Armani Exchange Milan got a home win and defeated Virtus Bologna with the final score of 94-82 (31-27, 17-18, 30-23, 16-14). Milan took the lead in the series at 2-1.
The fourth match is scheduled for 14 June, 20:30 CEST again in Milan.
Nicolo Melli led the winners in scoring, putting up 22 points (7/11 2PT, 2/2 3PT, 2/4 FT), 5 rebounds, and 22 PIR.
On the opposing side, Daniel Hackett was the high-scorer for Virtus, ending with 18 points (3/6 2PT, 1/2 3 PT, 9/10 FT), 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 34 PIR.
Even though Armani started the game strongly and build a double-digit lead in the mid-first quarter (25-14), Virtus quickly stabilized their positions and after Daniel Hackett‘s 5 points in a row had plus one (32-31) at the start of the second period.
However, the home team responded and after Shavon Shields‘ and Benjamin Bentil‘s buckets, Armani were up by 3 points (48-45) going into halftime.
Both teams started the second half with a good offensive flow neither team gaining a commanding lead.
However, Armani played the better stretch at the end of the third quarter, and after Jerian Grant‘s fade-away jumper, had plus 10 (78-68), going into the last 10 minutes of the match.
Virtus managed to reduce the deficit to 8 (82-90) with 3:55 to go, but Nicolo Melli made a jumper, Kyle Hines added a pair of free throws (94-82) that buried EuroCup champions‘ hopes to steal a victory.
Armani Exchange: Nicolo Melli 22 (5 REB), Shavon Shields 19 (7 REB), Jerian Grant 14, Luigi Datome 12.
Virtus: Daniel Hackett 18 (6 REB, 5 AST, 34 PIR), Milos Teodosic 14 (5 AST), Marco Belinelli 14, Tornike Shengelia 10.
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