Virtus came back persisent after the half

Are you still wanting a distraction from the team I am. Koponen's game on Finnish Independence Day was so fantastic that the Finns swarmed into the streets in spontaneous Finnish celebration. ItsenyyspFinland declared her independence on December 6, 1917, parting from Russian Empire and beginning its long journey to become a modern western welfare state. It's been 92 years since that day and because Finnish point guard Petteri Koponen couldn't celebrate Itsenyyspn his home country, he had to deal with some fireworks of his own.Koponen netted his Italian Serie A record, 24 points, in Virtus Bologna's convincing 73-90 (43-40) victory over home town Carife Ferrara last Sunday night. Koponen drained three out of five two-point field goal attempts and whopping six out of eight long range shots to become the MVP of the night.Koponen started the game red hot, sinking his first five field goal attempts while taking Bologna to a 21-26 lead in first quarter.

Ferrara managed to keep Koponen in check in the second quarter and bounce to a 43-40 halftime lead with some help from Luke Jackson and Anthony Grundy, while out-hustling and out-rebounding Bologna along the way.Virtus came back persisent after the half. David Moss kept things going for Virtus and tougher defensive approach helped Virtus to take a 57-62 lead in the middle of third quarter. In the next four minutes, Koponen sank his fourth and fifth trey of the night while Georgian big man Viktor Sanikidze hustled inside for eight points, taking Bologna to 62-76 lead.In the fourth quarter, Ferrara attempted a comeback, but managed to sink only 29.2 percent of their three-pointers, while Virtus maintained a comfortable lead. Koponen netted his sixth three-pointer with just under two minutes to go to put Virtus up 69-87.After last week's subpar performance at home against Pepsi Caserta, Virtus managed to play 30 minutes of tough, defensive-lead team basketball while Koponen bounced back after his poor shooting night. Cantu is currently holding the eighth spot of Serie A standings.

Cantu's key players are experienced Italian point guard Nicolas Mazzarino, Americans Jerry Green, Maarten Leunen and Othuys Jeffers, talented Georgian guard Manuchar Markoishvili and Austrian center Benjamin Ortner.Carife Ferrara-Virtus Bologna 73-90 (21-26, 43-40, 57-65)Ferrara: Luke Jackson 18/6, Anthony Grundy 17/1, Harold Jamison 8/8. Virtus: David Moss 24/6/3 STL, Petteri Koponen 24/1, Viktor Sanikidze 11/3.Petteri Koponen: 34 MIN, 24 PTS, 3-5 2PT, 6-8 3PT, 1 REB, 1 STL, 2 TO, Pf 3 Start (23) This article is also featured on Bust a Bucket - A Portland Trail Blazers Blog. This has been a Murphy's Law kind of year for the UCLA Bruins' basketball program thus far.They had lost four of their first six games, including three straight to finish last at the 76 Classic in Anaheim during Thanksgiving weekend.Included in those defeats were losses to Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State, mid-level programs that have toiled for decades in the Bruins' shadow.Senior starter Nikola Dragovic, one of the few players on the team with any real experience, was arrested late last month an assault charges after getting into a fight at a nightclubthe second time in two years that he has gotten into trouble with the law.Though Dragovic was suspended for a game and has since returned, it was undoubtedly a distraction.Starting forward Drew Gordon, who was averaging 11 points a game, abruptly quit the team early last week over differences with coach Ben Howland.Add to all of this the injuries suffered, the inexperience, and the lack of shooting abilityUCLA is averaging 43 percent from the floor, 23 percent from the three-point line, and making just 55 percent of their free throwsand you have one struggling bunch of basketball players.And to top it all off, the No. 1-ranked Kansas Jayhawks came to Pauley Pavilion in Westwood on Sunday to face this Bruin mess.Most members of Bruin Nation were expecting an absolute massacre of at least 30 or 40 points.Instead, the crowd of 10,451 saw a very good effort by UCLA against Kansas in a 73-61 loss, in which they trailed by as few as four points in the second half.Senior guard Michael Roll led the Bruins with 16 points, and freshman forward Reeves Nelson, although he missed several easy shots in the paint, proved to be a really tough banger, collecting nine rebounds against a bigger and more experienced Jayhawk front line before getting his eye poked.Dragovic and Malcolm Lee also scored in double digits for UCLADragovic with 14 points and Lee adding 12.Kansas (7-0) turned out to be too much for the Bruins, however.All-American center Cole Aldrich grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked three shots, and Markieff Morris was a complete beast, leading all scorers with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting to go along with his six boards.UCLA, now 2-5 on the young season, should be given a pat on the back for their efforts against the nation's No. 1 team.But, over the course of the game, it was obvious that they have much growing to do; the fact that the team consists of mostly sophomores and true freshmen belies that.With a lot of hard work and improvement in their shooting and reboundingthe Bruins shot a mere 36 percent for the game, 58 percent from the charity stripe, and were outrebounded 43-to-36 on Sundaya rise in the number of victories is not completely out of the question.They will next face another formidable opponent in Mississippi State in the John R Wooden Classic on Dec. (Vertigo) (Pink Sheets:VTPK) a theme park companyfeaturing Adrenaline Rush Adventures, today announced it has begun some of itsinitial marketing efforts in the Cali, Colombia area by offering FamiliarizationTrips (FAM TRIPS) to its Park located in Buga.

The purpose of the FAM TRIP is tomake locals aware of what is going on in Buga, said Kevin Johnson, VertigosCEO. Johnson went on to explain that many of the locals are not aware of what isgoing on and the amount of substantial investment that is being placed in theircountry by Vertigo. The FAM TRIP takes place every Friday starting at 6PM andhas attracted literally thousands in addition to the 500 or so that have beenpersonally invited by Vertigo. The FAM TRIP offers a tour of the Park Layout, anopen house at the Time Share Villa, a Andalusian Horse Show and other types oflocal entertainment that are slated for when the Park actually opens About Vertigo VERTIGO THEME PARKS, INC. with its headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida USA isresponsible for VERTIGO THEME PARK-Buga, an area of 2.5 million square meters inQuebrada Seca, in the municipality of Buga, Valle del Cauca, for tourist/urbanpurposes, and shall also be responsible for the development of Vertigo ThemeParks throughout the world Vertigos mission is to build seven parks in sevenyears.