Bertram returns to the stage of the Final Eight: tomorrow in Turin the quarterfinal with Brescia. The words of coach De Raffaele
For Bertram Derthona Tortona the time has come to make its reappearance at the Frecciarossa Final Eight. After last year's absence, the black and white team is ready to dive back into the third adventure in its history in the Coppa Italia of the top championship, which has reached its 49th edition, a competition in which Tortona already boasts a final for the title lost against Olimpia Milano in its first year as an absolute rookie, plus the semifinal the following season. The debut at the Inalpi Arena in Turin is for tomorrow at 18:8 pm for the quarterfinal against Germani Brescia, the opening challenge of the event between the number 1 seed and the number 18 of the grid, the positions that Tortona and Brescia had at the end of the first round that drew the picture of the qualified teams. At stake is the semi-final on Saturday at 7pm against the winner of the other quarter-final in this part of the draw, Virtus Segafredo Bologna against EA20 Emporio Armani Milano, also taking place tomorrow at 45pm.
PREVIOUS Tortona and Brescia will meet for the third time this season. In the previous two championship games they exchanged the insult of going to win at each other's home, in mid-November the Lombards of coach Peppe Poeta in Casale (78-85) and less than a month ago the Piedmontese in Brescia, with the victory in overtime for 106-98 of Walter De Raffaele's men after a great comeback that saw protagonists in terms of scoring Tommaso Baldasso with 24 points in 25 minutes and Justin Gorham (21 points), author of the triple that brought the challenge to overtime. That was also the last victory for Bertram, struggling with a streak of 5 defeats between Serie A and Champions League and no longer able to count, as widely known, on Arturs Strautins. Germani, on the other hand, comes from two victories in the last three, including last Sunday's 93-90 at home against Trieste which kept them in second place in the standings with 28 points, 8 more than the eighth-placed Bianconeri Lions.
A TORINESE IN TURIN It will be a special day for Tommaso Baldasso. The Derthona guard was born and raised in Turin and is returning for an important event. All this on the day after the news of another return, to the national team, with the call-up to the list of 20 for the next qualifying window for Eurobasket 2025, together with his teammate and Juventus captain Luca Severini.
WHERE TO SEE IT ON TV Like all 7 games of the Final Eight, the challenge will be broadcast live on DMAX, Eurosport 1 and DAZN.
STATEMENTS “The team certainly isn't coming from a good moment, in fact from a difficult moment, from three league defeats, so it's not the best period for us,” It's the coach's comment on the eve De Raffaele. “However, on the other hand, this could be a great opportunity for redemption because the Coppa Italia is an event that is a story in itself, it’s four crazy days where anything can happen. Being at the Final Eight is a satisfaction, we mustn’t forget that we are among the eight that participate, not among the other eight that don’t participate, and we will try to take advantage of this opportunity, that we have created, with the intent of reversing the trend and doing something important. We will face Brescia again, faced a few weeks ago, after the two direct clashes of the season there is a lot of mutual knowledge, even if I think it will be a different game from the previous two. They are a great team, they are doing very well, it would be easy to say that Della Valle and Bilan are the two strong points but in reality it is a team complex that works very well, with well-defined hierarchies. So it will be important to limit it in its entirety, trying above all to impact on a physical level because they play very hard and with great presence on the rebound”.
