VENICE (Basketball Champions League) - Italian derby was all about emotion, as Umana Reyer Venezia held Sidigas Avellino to just four points in the fourth quarter and won the first leg of the Round of 16 by 53-49.

Avellino had a 14-point lead late in the second quarter, but Venezia made the adjustments on the defensive end of the floor. Sidigas scored only 19 points after the break, while going 3-of-19 from beyond the arc.

"We knew that Fesenko was going to be a problem on the inside, but we made it tough for him tonight. And we limited their three-point shooting, because we knew they had a lot of good shooters on their team. We just had to play out our scouting report the correct way", said Jamelle Hagins, Umana Reyer's center.

Kyrylo Fesenko was one of the few guys in double digits with ten points, but scored most of them before the break. Levi Randolph, David Logan, MarQues Green and Adonis Thomas combined for 1-of-12 from beyond the arc, and Joe Ragland has not even attempted a three-pointer in the game.

"We needed to get back to our defence to win this game. It is only the first half of the tie, but a win like this gives us confidence", Venezia coach Walter De Raffaele said after the game.

Avellino were 47-40 up early in the fourth quarter, but Mike Bramos and Hagins led the 9-0 run to hand Venezia their first lead of the game with four minutes left on the game clock. Ariel Filloy and Hrvoje Peric had a couple of hard drives to the basket to set the final score at 53-49.

Peric also had a team-high 11 points for Venezia, who have extended their perfect record at home in the Basketball Champions League to an impressive 9-0. Avellino suffered only their second loss away from home in eight games played.

"We settled down when we had a 14-point lead, stopped running. And a few turnovers, few mistakes - that's all it takes for Venezia. They have done a good job", Kyrylo Fesenko admitted after the loss.

Second leg of the Round of 16 will be played in Avellino next Wednesday.