Derthona 63 Casale 72
Orsi Tortona fell for the second time in a row, beaten by a tough Novipiù Casale who reined in the local attack, holding them to just 63 points.
Cavina starts with Spissu, Marks, Reati, Brooks and Garri while Ramondino responds with Tomassini, Bray, Natali, Martinoni and Fall. Casale starts off quickly with Bray scoring 11 points in the first quarter to which Reati and Marks respond with 5 points each. The game remains balanced and the guests end the first quarter up by 3 at 19 to 16.
Second quarter along the lines of the first: Martinoni takes the lead with 8 points and after a home advantage of 31 to 26 comes a partial of 8 to 2 for the guests for 36 to 33 at half time.
The third quarter began with a 7 point lead for the guests which was immediately closed by a 7 to 0 at home. coach Cavina's boys climb up to plus 5 (50 to 45) but at the last break the scoreboard says 54 to 54.
As admitted by Cavina himself after the game, Brooks got nervous and conceded two triples from the corner to Saunders, then Bray also scored from 3 for the outside break at 63 to 54. Tortona fights, gets to within 4 with 2'30” to go but fails to complete the comeback. Casale leaves the PalaOltrepò celebrating deservedly.
Coach Cavina appears in the press room disappointed with the result and begins by recalling that what he has been saying for a couple of months has exactly come true. “The defeats in Agrigento and with Casale have elements in common: they are experienced teams who have been playing together for a long time. Despite the good things we have seen at the start of the championship, we still need to work a lot. Casale was good at filling the area and they forced us to work hard to get the ball out of the low post, thus limiting one of our primary offensive options. We never found our rhythm because of their defense. 63 points are a lower offensive production than our standard: in fact we were rarely fluid in attack while in defense we allowed some shots that were too open. In the end, Casale was simply better than us today"
Derthona 63: Spissu 5, Reati 14, Bianchi 0, Marks 13, Simoncelli 10, Garri 6, Ammannato 7, Brooks 8.
Casale 72: Saunders 13, De Nicolao 0, Bray 22, Tomassini 2, Natali 0, Blizzard 8, Martinoni 14, Gospelov 2, Fall 11 (14 rebounds)
