Virtus Bologna suffers first loss at Serie A at the hands of Vanoli Cremona

The winning streak of Virtus Bologna at the Italian Serie A came to a screeching halt on Sunday after being upset by Vanoli Cremona 78-66. Bologna’s impressive start to the season still has them in very good shape with a 10-1 record. They’re still the top team in the Italian League an are comfortably ahead of Banco di Sardegna Sassari by two games (8-3).

Taking nothing away from Cremona, they played well and managed to defend their homecourt in this outing. The win catapults them into fourth place in the standings with a 7-4 record.

Bologna was off its game from beginning to end. Their starters were outscored by Cremona’s 46-29. No one was able to step up and carry the torch for Bologna’s offense.

Milos Teodosic, who has been nothing short of stellar to begin the 2019-20 season, was limited to scoring just seven points on the night. Regular standout scorer Kyle Weems was only able to muster four points in his 27 minutes on the floor.

Frank Gaines did his best to keep the league leaders in this one with his 19 points, but it was not enough.

Cremona came out to play and play hard they did. Wesley Saunders proved to be an unstoppable force in the paint, scoring a game-high 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field and 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. The hosts made the low post a no-man’s land for their guests. Ethan Happ and Vojislav Stojanovic each put up a double-double with 11 rebounds apiece.

While the end to their undefeated steak may be disappointing, Virtus Bologna shouldn’t be too discouraged because they’re still one of the most dangerous teams in the Italian Serie A.

Consider this a wake-up call for them and that they cannot rest on nor be complacent with their early-season success.