Hall's Buzzer Lifts Milano Past Virtus, 87⁠–⁠85

Devon Hall hit a pull-up jumper at the buzzer as Olimpia Milano beat Virtus Bologna 87⁠–⁠85 in the Italian EuroLeague derby on Tuesday, 29 September, at Unipol Forum in Assago for Milano’s first win of the European season (Eurosport; Eurohoops; Sky Sport). Hall finished with 12 points, 10 of them in the final 3 minutes 40 seconds, including a late step-back three and the game-winner (Eurosport). Marko Gudurić led Milano with 14 points; Darius Thompson also scored 12 (Eurosport; Eurohoops). Aliou Diarra led Virtus with 15 points and seven rebounds; Wendell Moore Jr. scored 12 as Virtus fell to 0⁠–⁠2 (Eurosport; Eurohoops).

The EuroLeague is Europe’s top men’s club basketball competition, a season-long league of leading clubs that ends in a Final Four weekend. A derby here is the rivalry game between Italy’s two leading EuroLeague clubs, Olimpia Milano and Virtus Bologna (Eurosport; Sky Sport). Assago is a town on the southern edge of Milan; Unipol Forum is Milano’s home arena there. A buzzer-beater is a shot that goes in as the game clock expires; a pull-up jumper is a jump shot taken after a player stops his dribble and rises to shoot; a step-back three is a three-point shot taken after the shooter steps away from the defender (Eurosport; Sky Sport).

Eurosport reported that Hall’s last two baskets — an authored step-back three and a forced mid-range pull-up at the siren — decided a derby in which Milano had led by 15 at the 17-minute mark before Virtus mounted a long comeback (Eurosport). Sky Sport said Hall took the final shot against strong defense from Diarra, who seconds earlier had tied the score on an offensive rebound; Milano thus won its first EuroLeague game of the season (Sky Sport). An offensive rebound is a missed shot recovered by the shooting team. Hall’s 10 points in the final 3 minutes 40 seconds of a 12-point night made him the closer after Milano’s earlier cushion disappeared (Eurosport).

Gudurić’s 14 points, with four rebounds and two assists, led Milano; Eurosport also credited Moses Wright with 11 points and seven rebounds, Darius Thompson with 12, and RJ Cole with 11, while Jason Burnell’s European home debut brought 6 points and 10 rebounds off the bench and Garrison Mathews hit his first two threes in Milano colors for 6 points (Eurosport). For Virtus, Diarra’s 15 and seven rebounds topped the visitors; Moore’s 12 and Marcus Carr’s 10 points with nine assists shared the creation load, with Derrick Alston Jr. also on 10 (Eurosport). Eurohoops’ Round 2 roundup matched the 87⁠–⁠85 final and the Gudurić / Diarra / Moore scoring lines (Eurohoops).

Milano rebounded from a Round 1 loss at Partizan in Belgrade (92⁠–⁠76 for Partizan) and a tight Italian League win over Trieste; Tuesday was also Milano’s second win over Bologna in ten days after a Supercoppa semifinal victory (Eurosport; Eurohoops). Virtus dropped to 0⁠–⁠2 after an opening loss at Fenerbahçe (Eurosport; Eurohoops). Eurosport framed Hall as the veteran guard Milano leans on in crunch time after his title-winning years at Fenerbahçe, and noted Virtus still lacks a clear late-game closer of the same profile in Europe after assembling a young, new group with little EuroLeague experience (Eurosport). Tip-off for the Assago derby was listed among Round 2’s Tuesday slate at 20:30 CEST on the league injury board (Eurohoops Matchday 2 injury update).

Eurosport’s box listed Milano scorers including Wright 11, Thompson 12, Hall 12, Gudurić 14, Peters 7, Burnell 6, Cole 11, Bolmaro 5, Mathews 6 and Booker 3, with Tonut and Ricci unused; Virtus scorers included Frazier 7, Moore 12, Edwards 6, Alston Jr. 10, Carr 10, Bello 8, Baldasso 6, Diarra 15, Klintman 7 and Diouf 4, with coach Mumbrú opposite Milano coach Poeta (Eurosport). A rebound is a missed shot recovered by either team; Diarra’s late offensive rebound tied the game before Hall’s winner (Sky Sport).

Sky Sport called the Assago finish a “buzzer beater” that decided an intense derby and said Milano won its first EuroLeague game of the season on Hall’s siren shot (Sky Sport). Eurosport noted the Forum crowd was not full and that Milano remains far from early Final Four talk, while still treating the derby win as a needed rebound after Belgrade (Eurosport). For plain readers: the Final Four is the EuroLeague’s season-ending Final Four weekend; Assago’s Unipol Forum sits just outside Milan proper, which is why wire reports name both Assago and Milano (Eurosport; Sky Sport).