
Bertram resists and wins with a great defense: the first act of the Champions Play-In against Peristeri is theirs
Bertram Derthona – Peristeri Domino's 69-59
(18-21, 31-37, 53-47)
Bertram: Zerini 3, Vital 3, Kuhse 16, Gorham 3, Candi 7, Denegri, Strautins 5, Baldasso 9, Kamagate 8, Biligha 4, Severini 2, Weems 9. Coach De Raffaele.
Peristeri: Tzalias, Coffey 9, Xanthopoulos 4, Papas 7, Stavrakopoulos, Poulianitis, Tsourgiannis 2, Avdalas 9, Harris 17, Brown 8, Eddie 3. All. Limniatis
Referees: Red (FRA), Vulic (CRO), Jacobs (BEL).
Bertram starts its 2025 home season in a positive way. The 69-59 against Peristeri Domino's brings the Champions League Play-In series to 1-0 in favor of the black and white team, good at changing skin at the long interval after a start with the handbrake on.
At the PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris in Casale Monferrato, the home team won the match mainly in defense, which became effective after falling to the maximum disadvantage of 12 points. From 25-37 in the 16th minute for the Greeks, dragged there by the points of Harris, Avdalas and Coffey, the black and white rearguard forced the guests to remain dry for 7 minutes during which a 14-0 break materialized, putting Derthona ahead for the first time (39-37 in the 23rd minute) but above all changing the inertia of the challenge.
From that point on, Tortona loosens up even more in terms of scoring, at the end of the third quarter the overtakings and counter-overtakings follow one another, Baldasso raises his voice more than the others with a couple of triples and when Candi surprises the guest defense with a third time Bertram can get to two full possessions of distance at the dawn of the final period, 53-47 at 30'. The last real jolt of the Greeks corresponds to their 4-0 to start the fourth quarter, Bertram takes a while to get the score moving again but suddenly a 5-0 counterbreak arrives with the triple of Kuhse and an easy support of Kamagate on the counterattack facilitated by a steal plus assist of Baldasso for the 58-51 with 6' to go. The match effectively ends with just under two minutes to go, when Kuhse, after scoring a basket inside the paint, dished out his ninth personal assist for Candi's triple for 67-57, which certifies the first point of the Play-In against the Greeks.
Next Tuesday at 18:30 Game-2 in Peristeri with the aim of not returning to Casale Monferrato for the "beautiful" on Wednesday 22 January. Now focus once again on the championship for the other crucial home game of the week, the challenge on Saturday at 19:30 with Givova Scafati to snatch the ticket for the Final Eight of the Italian Cup.
STATEMENTS In the post-match press conference they introduced themselves Thomas Baldasso and coach Walter De Raffaele. "We played a good game in the second half after starting off tense.”, the beginning of the commentary of theblack and white exterior. "In the second half we played the basketball we wanted, defending, having more confidence, being more compact and moving the ball. These were the recipes to bring home a good victory".
De Raffaele"Honestly it wasn't an easy game for us, we were coming off a complicated trip from Naples and we were quite tired because of it. Peristeri played better in the first and second quarter, we missed a lot of open shots, but what we understood is that, when things don't go well on offense, it's important to play great defense. I want to emphasize that we have a lot of players who were returning from injuries and I want to say especially thanks to Zerini, who played with a mask due to the nose injury he suffered in Naples. The same goes for Gorham (returned to taste the field again after more than three weeks, ed.) and Biligha. We are at 1-0 and let's see what awaits us in the continuation of the series".