Petteri Koponen Watch: The Finns rule the cold

THE H.T. graces us with another updated on how our man Petteri Koponen is doing with his Italian club...

After five straight victories in FIBA EuroChallenge Cup, Virtus Bologna clinched their spot in EuroChallenge Top 16 and decided to give a breather to key players Earl Boykins, Jamie Arnold and Brett Blizzard in team's last EuroChallenge regular season game in Russia. Bologna was leading the game by ten points with less than seven minute remaining, but Marque Perry forced CSK-VVS Samara back in the game. Bologna managed to grab the lead back and with just two minutes remaining, they lead the game 64-68. The next eight points, however, were scored by Samara. Samara won the game 72-68 (34-34) and dropped Bologna to 5-1.

Petteri Koponen got to play over 28 minutes against Samara and once again was the starting point guard of his team. Petteri finished with 7 points (with 3-6 FG shooting), 8 rebounds, two assists, one steal, one turnover and two personal fouls. He played the last five minutes of the game but only attempted to shoot once during that period. Roberto Chiacig led Bologna with 22 and 7, while Keith Langford answered with 17 and 6. Marque Perry was the player of the night, scoring 25 to go with five rebounds and three assists. Philadelphia 76er draft pick ('02) Sam Clancy had four points, six rebounds and a game-clinching block for Samara. EuroChallenge Top 16 tips off January 27th and the top two teams of each four additional groups make it to the quarterfinals.

Quite cold in Samara, by the way.

In six games of international competition in EuroChallenge Cup, Petteri Koponen averaged:

Minutes 18,5
Points 5,5
Rebounds 2,3
Assists 1,0
Steals 0,7
Turnovers 1,5
Fouls 2,0
Free throws 100%
2pt field goals 38,9%
3pt field goals 36,4%

This Saturday, Bologna will play a road game against Benetton Treviso. Treviso is lead by pg Bobby Dixon, sg Gary Neal and big guys Sandro Nicevic (Croatia) and Radoslav Rancik (Slovakia).


-The H.T.