Dubai Basketball under Xavi Pascual continues winning on the road. Two days after storming the Buesa Arena, they won 97-101 in Milan with a stellar performance from Dwayne Bacon, who scored 29 points without missing any of his six three-pointers. Pascual's team led by 20 in the third quarter and withstood a late comeback from Armani Milano, who fell short by two points with three seconds remaining. With this victory, Dubai improves to 4-2. Milano, in last place, suffers their fourth consecutive loss.
The game started well for Milano, who opened with an 18-7 lead led by RJ Cole and Garrison Mathews. Dubai's response was swift: a 0-16 run in less than four minutes turned the game around, and the first quarter ended 23-29. Milano closed to within two possessions before halftime, but Davis Bertans and Elie Okobo maintained the visitors' lead (49-56).
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Bacon opens the gap
The third quarter belonged to Dubai. A 0-12 run, capped by three-pointers from Bacon, pushed the lead to 20 points (60-80), and the quarter ended 68-83. Dubai finished with 54.5% from three-point range, while Milano shot just 8 of 30.
A comeback that comes too late
In the fourth quarter, Milano finally found their rhythm. After falling behind by 20 again following a basket by Tornike Shengelia, the home team won the quarter 29-18. A three-pointer and free throws from Mathews cut the deficit to seven with a minute remaining, and a five-second violation by Mfiondu Kabengele reduced it to five with 25 seconds left. With 2.9 seconds to play, an offensive rebound and basket brought Milano within two points, but Bacon sealed the game from the free-throw line.
Mathews led Milano with 21 points, and Kabengele added 18 for Dubai. Coach Peppe Poeta summed up his team's problem: "If you lose concentration for that long, you pay the price. We have stretches of good basketball, 25 or 30 minutes, but it's not enough."