Derthona's positive streak continues. Latin beat 90-99
BENACQUISTA LATINA – DERTHONA BASKETBALL 90-99
(22-15, 37-44, 62-71)
BENACQUISTA LATINA: Hairston 24, Lagana 11, Allodi 6, Di Ianni, Pastore 11, Ambrosin ne, Raymond 18, Jovovic, Saccaggi 10, Tavernelli 10, Guerra ne, Cavallo ne
DERTHONA BASKETBALL: Garri 17, Stefanelli 4, Spanghero 13, Johnson 32, Sorokas 12, Billi ne, Meluzzi 5, Apuzzo ne, Divac ne, Radonjic 3, Quaglia 13
The positive path continues for Bertram Derthona who, after the great victory against Biella, finds two more precious points in the tricky away match against Latina beaten 90-99. The Lions, with a great mental test and without Gergati (due to a blow to the knee in the finishing session on Saturday morning) and Divac (remained out as a precaution since the beginning of the week), manage to stem the offensive intensity of the hosts by taking advantage of the turnovers of front at the right moments and then managed to contain the final assaults of Raymond and Saccaggi.
THE CHRONICLE
The first two points of the match go to Tortona with Captain Garri's post, assisted by Sorokas thanks to an excellent ball turn from the perimeter. Latina shows notable physical toughness under the basket who, with Raymond and Hairston, tries to put the first pressure on the Juventus wall. The prompt responses of Sorokas and Garri arrive from the ranks of coach Pansa. The assists from Spanghero and Johnson, both with changes of hand, allowed 5 points to be scored. When the score was still at 15-15, the first break arrived for Latina. Tavernelli and Pastore's triple put the home team up 7 (22-15), forcing coach Pansa to call a time-out with 17" left. New entry Meluzzi wins the foul on Jovovic, but there is no time to close the gap. The first quarter ends 22-15 for Benacquista Latina. The second quarter opens with Tortona immediately trying to close the gap with the big man Francesco Quaglia. A very high-paced game with numerous upsets in front. At the right moment, Tortona manages to exploit the spaces for Radonjic and Johnson's bombs, finding the equalizer (30-30) and then the advantage with Stefanelli's basket in the following action. Back and forth between the two teams; an excellent Quaglia responds to the home team's attacks, but Sorokas and Garri complete the comeback going into halftime at +7 (37-44). When the games resume, Benacquista forcefully returns to the offensive action. The American duo Hairston-Raymond brings the hosts to -1 with the Lions now trying to react. However, Benacquista has a blackout and is attacked by the men in the black and white jackets. Triples from Johnson and Spanghero bring the Lions to +10, their maximum advantage so far (54-64). Johnson, with his 19 points on the scoresheet, managed to maintain a nine-point lead going into the final game at 62-71. Latina now turns up the intensity. Raymond and Lagana continue to rack up points and are back to breathing down their necks. Tavernelli lights up PalaBianchini with a triple for -2 (75-77) but the game is played with back and forth. Meluzzi responds to Tavernelli and Johnson responds to Saccaggi again from long range (80-85). Raymond and Saccaggi, following Stefanelli's defensive inattention, bring 6 points to the scoreboard which, with just over 1 minute to go, reads 89-91 for Bertram Derthona. However, Johnson, Meluzzi and Spanghero made the final push in the third half to give Derthona a 90-99 victory.
Lorenzo Pansa: “I'm happy because we went down to Latina definitely excited for the victory over Biella. We knew that we would go down without Divac and, in yesterday morning's training, we had a problem with Gergati. We clearly fell a little short but having said that we were good in certain moments of the match after a first quarter played according to the characteristics that best suited Latina. In the second quarter, however, we were very good at selecting shots, forcing Latina to defend for a long time, thus creating the decisive break. In the third quarter we unfortunately suffered in the rebound but in the most important moment we were mentally good at picking up what was done with quality in the second quarter. I am extremely happy to have seen everyone make a fundamental contribution. This must be an incentive to do something more in the gym every day because the opportunities are there for everyone, you just have to wait for them. Now we hope to give our fans a victory at home because it is something that has been missing for some time."
