Bertram suffers but continues its run: Strautins leads it to a poker of successes against Sassari
Bertram Derthona – Bank of Sardinia Sassari 71-68
(18-23, 35-34, 46-44)
Scoreboards:
Bertram: Zerini ne, Vital 9, Kuhse 6, Gorham, Candi 3, Denegri 5, Strautins 22, Baldasso 8, Kamagate 8, Biligha 8, Severini, Weems 2. All. De Raffaele.
Banco di Sardegna: Cappelletti, Bibbins 15, Piredda no, Trucchetti no, Halilovic 10, Fobbs 6, Tambone 10, Veronesi 3, Bendzius 14, Vincini no, Sokolowski 7, Renfro 3. Coach Markovic.
Referees: Bartoli from Trieste, Bettini from Bologna, Pepponi from Spello (PG).
viewers: 2223.
Bertram doesn't stop anymore. The black and white team gives continuity to its results and scores a poker after the victory with Manresa and the recent away blitzes in Trapani and Benfica. In the return to the home parquet of the PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris in Casale Monferrato more than twenty days after the last time, the team coached by Walter De Raffaele beats Banco di Sardegna Sassari 71-68 in the sixth day of the Serie A Unipol. It is the fourth joy in the five games played in the top championship, seventh out of eight seasonally, thus placing itself in the even more noble part of the ranking.
For the black and whites it was a test played on top of several errors, with difficulty in scoring consistently, with the exception of a sensational Strautins, but managing to contain the Sardinians' strong points in their half of the court after a risky start (3-15 for Sassari after just over 3'). Derthona took it home with quintets often with a strong Italian imprint (Biligha, Denegri and Candi did very well), staying ahead even if only slightly for a large part of the second half and finding clarity in the final on both sides of the court to sprint better, on the strength of the baskets of Strautins, Kamagate and Vital and important defensive recoveries, even if on 68-60 that seemed to have closed everything with 100" to go they had to repel a desperate attempt at a comeback by the islanders led by two consecutive triples by Bibbins for 68-66 with 1' to go. There, a vital foul earned on an offensive rebound by Kamagate converted into a 2/2 by the cold French big man, and the subsequent three-point miss by Fobbs with 19” to go allowed Bertram to no longer fear. Arturs Strautins closes with a thirty-point evaluation that gives credit to a total performance: the only Bertram player in double figures of points, 22, 5/7 from three, 7 rebounds and 8 fouls drawn.
The continuation of the black and white tour de force includes a double trip along the Via Emilia next week to play the recovery match with Virtus Segafredo Bologna on Wednesday 6th at 20pm at the Unipol Arena in Casalecchio di Reno (BO) and the challenge against UNAHOTELS Reggio Emilia on Saturday 9th at 20pm at the PalaBigi in the Emilian city.
STATEMENTS "A very, very important victory because it comes at the end of a very tough week with two away games in quick succession. It was a game I feared, both for the value of Sassari, who I'm sure will climb up the standings and have put us in difficulty, and for our mental lack of habit of holding on when there is a significant expenditure of physical energy like that sustained in the two trips to Trapani and Lisbon", It's the coach's analysis De Raffaele. “We had a very sterile attack, but we contained their talent in defense and won defensively, achieving our third success in a week. As I told the guys in the locker room that we should be happy to have won a game like this, for the fact that we played a very solid defensive game and did the right things in the end both in attack and defense. The players still have to get used to the fact that games must be mentally attacked, instead at the beginning we showed very little energy, we were late in every situation, the physical tiredness component is not an excuse for players who want to step up their game. We are twelve players, today for example Candi was very good, and just when the starting five players left we managed to get back in and this is an important component. However, it must be said that in the end we all regained the lucidity to do well those small details necessary to win against a quality opponent. Strautins? There is no doubt that he was our go-to-guy for the whole game. I have a high regard for Arturs, he can still grow, I am happy for him and for us”.
