Bertram goes out in the distance in Lisbon: Benfica knocked out to finish alone at the top of the first half of the Champions League
Benfica – Bertram Derthona 58-72
(16-21, 32-41, 46-57)
Scoreboards:
Benfica: Francisco 8, Broussard 2, Thornton, Silva ne, Barbosa 12, Drechsel 5, Ben Romdhane 5, Gameiro 2, Relvao, Gomes 8, Carvacho 7, Stone 9. Coach Alves.
Bertram: Vital 17, Kuhse 2, Gorham 9, Candi 6, Farias, Denegri 5, Strautins 5, Kamagate 11, Biligha, Severini 5, Josovic 2, Weems 10. Coach De Raffaele.
Referees: Red (FRA), Poursanidis (GRE), Manniste (EST).
For the second time in as many seasons of participation in the Basketball Champions League, Bertram Derthona ends the first leg of their group in the top FIBA club competition undefeated. They did so by conquering the Pavilhao Fidelidade in Lisbon, home of bottom-seeded Benfica, beaten 72-58 in the third day of Group G, thus following up on previous home victories against Chemnitz Niners and BAXI Manresa.
With Zerini and Baldasso unable to leave for the Portuguese capital due to physical problems, the performance offered by the black and white team was not brilliant, coming out of the starting blocks with little momentum even if already in the first quarter they took the lead in the score against the three-time reigning champions Portugal and never left it, despite the initial dominance of the home team in offensive rebounds, due above all to the activism of the Angolan international Francisco. The decisive escape, although not overbearing, occurs during the long break, the impact from the bench by Candi and the baskets from medium distance by Weems and from long range by Vital (11 points at half time with 3/5 from three) allow Severini's triple to set the 32-41 at half time (0-8 break), the defense forces the Portuguese attack to work harder throughout the second half and the lead reaches double figures during the third quarter, with Kamagate making his way with a couple of his dunks (37-51 at 26'). At the last mini-break the margin is relatively safe, 46-57, Denegri and especially Weems are there to resolve some difficulties in attacking the opponent's basket and, with the advantage still in double figures with 5' to go (51-64), the plays that close the game are an offensive rebound by Weems transformed into a flying assist for Gorham's support (51-66 with -4'10”) and Vital's alley-oop for Kamagate's dunk (8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks) which puts the exclamation point on 51-68 with three and a half minutes to go. The icing on the cake of the sixth win in seven games of the season are the first points in a Bertram jersey and in Europe for 2006-born Andrija Josovic, the result of a 2/2 free throw with 27” to go after he entered the field together with the other 2006 debutant Bruno Farias.
The first leg ended with 6 points and while waiting for the team that will reach 4 points between Manresa and Chemnitz to be defined tomorrow in Spain, Bertram will meet Benfica again in the next European match, the match that will open its return round on Wednesday 13 November at 20:30 at the PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris in Casale Monferrato. On the home parquet, however, there will first be the championship match this Sunday against Banco di Sardegna Sassari, with tip-off set for 17:30.
STATEMENTS “An important victory for us, it's never easy to win three games in a row in the Champions League”, the words of the Juventus playmaker in the press conference Davide Denegri. “We didn't play very well in the first half, in the second we came back on the pitch with another determination in defense and we made the difference”. "Congratulations to Benfica, they played aggressively, it was their first home game of the season and they wanted to show their fans that they care about doing well”, the coach's analysis starts from here Walter De Raffaele. "For us it was the second away game of a long journey around Italy and Portugal with the match played last Saturday in Trapani, it was important to stay on the game plan and we had the ability to find the key, as Davide said, in the defense in the third and fourth period to get the third consecutive victory in the Champions League”.
