Bertram scores five in Europe: Chemnitz conquered, unbeaten record and sole lead in Champions League maintained
Niners Chemnitz – Bertram Derthona 61-77
(12-19, 26-38, 41-58)
Chemnitz: Gregori ne, Uguak 13, Garrett 5, Richter 2, Christmas 2, Lansdowne 6, Bailey 12, Nkamhoua 19, Koppke ne, Edigin 2, Tischler. All. Pastore.
Bertram: Zerini ne, Vital 16, Kuhse 13, Gorham 13, Candi 2, Denegri ne, Strautins 2, Baldasso, Kamagate 10, Biligha 9, Severini, Weems 12. All. De Raffaele.
Referees: Red (FRA), Salins (LAT), Horozov (BUL).
The European version of Bertram Derthona continues not to betray. The black and white team maintains its seasonal unbeaten run in the Basketball Champions League by winning with authority in Germany on the field of Niners Chemnitz, in the fifth and penultimate day of Group G of the top continental cup for FIBA clubs. 77-61 is the eloquent score that repeats the success of the first leg and testifies to a remarkable game management against the current third force of the Bundesliga. The two points allow them to maintain their solitary lead in the standings with one round to go in the first phase and the relative luxury of going to the decisive match next Tuesday at the home of their closest pursuer BAXI Manresa, who saved themselves in today's away game at Benfica (80-91, after being 11 points down at half-time), with the possibility of losing within 17 points against the Spaniards and still finishing in first place, qualifying directly for the second group phase of the Round of 16 without having to go through the extra effort of the Play-In, which the second and third placed teams in the group are forced to make.
A practically one-way match in Saxony, with Tortona building the victory in the first half. The hosts were soon forced to chase Derthona, who from the first break between the two initial quarters (16-28 in the 15th minute after Gorham's triple) kept them behind almost always in double digits of disadvantage, even touching +20 in a couple of circumstances in the third period and reacting with maturity to the only difficult moment of the challenge, the 10-2 German at the beginning of the last quarter for the return to -9 of Chemnitz (51-60 in the 33rd minute), repelled with what were the weapons for the whole match: the overbearing domination on the rebound (48-28 total, 21-8 in attack), the defensive intensity that forced 15 total turnovers and to barely exceed 60 points scored by an opponent accustomed to much higher scores, the intimidating presence in the center of the area of Kamagate (5 blocks), as productive as that of his replacement Biligha, who had returned well from the injury that had blew up the last match with Treviso. It is worth highlighting the constant offensive contribution of the American quartet of the black and white roster, Gorham was the first to light up, Vital and Weems widened the margin in the third quarter being the main protagonists in the 2-15 partial for the 36-56 of the 26th minute, and finally Kuhse (7 assists) repelled the aforementioned attempt to return home of the Germans by giving them the final push with the basket with a foul for 58-73 that with two and a half minutes to go extinguished the residual ardour of Rodrigo Pastore's team.
The Champions League will therefore be discussed again on Tuesday 17th in Spain with the match scheduled for 20:30 with Manresa, preceded three days earlier by the home match for Serie A Unipol on Saturday 14th December at 20:45 at the PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris in Casale Monferrato, the direct clash of the eleventh day against Umana Reyer Venezia.
STATEMENTS In the post-match press conference, the coach introduced himself Walter De Raffaele e Ismael Kamagate. “First of all I want to congratulate the organization of the Chemnitz club, with its fans, there was a great atmosphere in the hall, it was a pleasure to play there and against a strong team”, the first words of De Raffaele. “We played a very solid game, especially in defense. It was an important game for us, especially to respond to our defeat in the last match in the championship. As I told the players, we played really connected, focused defensively and offensively. We are happy with how it went and now we have to continue like this”. “We needed this victory and we got it”, the debut French pivot, the best of the match in terms of rating with 22. “It represents a valuable step towards direct qualification to the Round of 16, but beyond that we needed it after losing the last league game. We played as a team, all together, responding well physically to a very physical team like Chemnitz”.
