Virtus puts more energy into it and moves to PalaEnergica
Bertram Derthona Tortona – Virtus Segafredo Bologna 66-98
(19-20, 38-54, 52-74)
Tortona: Zerini 2, Vital 22, Kuhse 2, Gorham 12, Candi, Farias ne, Denegri 2, Baldasso 6, Kamagate 8, Biligha 3, Severini 3, Weems 6. Coach De Raffaele.
Bologna: Cordinier 11, Holiday 14, Belinelli 8, Pajola 7, Visconti 5, Shengelia 5, Hackett 13, Grazulis 12, Polonara 4, Diouf 8, Akele, Tucker 11. Coach Ivanovic.
Referees: Baldini of Florence, Quarta of Turin, Galasso of Siena.
viewers: 3000.
Bertram Derthona Tortona's losing streak fails to break. At the PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris in Casale Monferrato, Virtus Segafredo Bologna asserts the rights of a Euroleague team and wins clearly by 98-66 in the 19th matchday of the Unipol Series A, forcing the Tortona black and whites to their fifth game without a win between the championship and the Champions League in front of a sold-out home stadium.
After the first quarter kept balanced for Tortona by the activism of the two starting big men Kamagate and Gorham for the 19-20 of the 10th minute, the game splits with the 15-0 break of Virtus at the halfway point of the second. From when Vital (17 points with 4/6 from three at the interval, for the American guard) scores his umpteenth triple from sidereal distance for the 32-35 of the 14th minute, Bertram remains dry for five and a half minutes, in which Bologna finds solutions from practically everyone, with Polonara, Holiday and Cordinier to rise slightly above the rest of their teammates in the scoring phase for the 32-50 with one minute left in the first half.
The +16 away lead that the hosts went into the locker rooms with (38-54) will remain unassailable for the home team, hit by two consecutive triples by Pajola and Belinelli for the -20 halfway through the second quarter (46-66), the definitive proof of how Derthona is not having the right night to resist coach Ivanovic's Emilians, who fly to the final +32 to strengthen their position in the group of the second-placed teams in the championship.
Bertram instead sees its eighth place in the standings at 20 points approached at 2 lengths away from Venice, winner at home against Naples. But now for the Tortonesi it is time to think only and exclusively about the Final Eight of the Italian Cup: Wednesday at 18 at the Inalpi Arena in Turin the opening of the tricolor adventure with the quarter-final against Germani Brescia. The championship will be discussed again on Saturday 1st March with the away match on the field of the solitary leader Trento.
STATEMENTS "There is not much to comment on, the match lasted 15 minutes and I think it is the first time that the team did not have an emotional reaction, instead letting the match go away in many aspects”, is the coach's comment Walter De Raffaele. "All this net of the value of Bologna that played the game for the team that it is, showing an energy and a physicality that we didn't even come close to. We just have to apologize, we wanted to play a different game and we didn't succeed. We all have to take responsibility, me first. It's a difficult moment, but I have no other solutions than to reset and go back to the gym to work to prepare for an important game like the Coppa Italia match against Brescia".
