Sean McDermott posted a 27 efficiency rating — the highest of his 47 games in Italy’s top flight — to power Pallacanestro Trieste to a comeback victory over Virtus Bologna on the road, sportando.basketball reported. The American guard scored 23 points in 33 minutes, adding eight rebounds, one assist and a plus/minus of +10 as Trieste won its third consecutive game.
The win moved Trieste to 3-3 on the season and lifted its point differential to +26, a mark bettered only by Bologna, Milano, Napoli and Treviso, according to the report. It was Trieste’s fourth victory in 14 all-time meetings with Virtus and only its second triumph in Bologna.
McDermott breaks his own 2024 mark
The 27 rating eclipsed the previous Serie A best of 25 McDermott recorded on May 5, 2024, while playing for Varese against Pistoia, when he finished with 21 points and eight rebounds, sportando.basketball reported. The 23 points against Bologna matched his season high, set a week earlier against Verona, and his eight rebounds tied his personal record.
McDermott shot 4-of-6 from two-point range, 4-of-7 from three-point range and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. His 23-point output ranks as the third-highest scoring performance by a Trieste player against Virtus Bologna in Serie A, behind Adrian Banks’ 27 points on April 2, 2022, and Langston Galloway’s 24 points in that same game, the report noted.
Trieste’s offense finds its rhythm after slow start
The victory completed a turnaround for a team that opened the season with three straight defeats. Trieste never reached 85 points in its first three games and shot below 40 percent from the field over that stretch. Over the last three games, it scored 92, 108 and 100 points, closing the Bologna game at 47 percent from the floor, sportando.basketball reported.
Much of the improvement came from two-point range, where Trieste converted 23 of 37 attempts for 62 percent — its best mark of the season after a 55 percent start.
What the result means in the standings
At 3-3, Trieste sits level in the win-loss column with a +26 point differential that trails only Bologna, Milano, Napoli and Treviso in Serie A. The three-game winning streak has reversed the club’s early-season slide and restored balance to its ledger with the league’s elite clubs still ahead on the schedule.
McDermott’s record night came in his 47th Serie A appearance, a body of work that now includes a new personal high in efficiency, points and rebounds in a single game against one of Italy’s most storied clubs.
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