Bertram, the Assago Forum is yours: Derthona beats the Italian champions of Milan and writes a new page in its history
EA7 Emporio Armani Milano – Bertram Derthona 94-98
(17-31, 37-58, 66-77)
Milan: Dimitrijevic 3, Mannion 10, Bortolani, Lonati n/o, Brooks 26, LeDay 15, Ricci, Diop, Caruso n/o, Shields 17, Mirotic 15, Gillespie 8. Coach Messina.
Bertram: Zerini 1, Vital 11, Kuhse 26, Gorham 19, Candi ne, Denegri, Strautins 6, Baldasso 11, Kamagate 9, Biligha 4, Severini, Weems 11. All. De Raffaele.
Referees: Giovannetti of Bari, Grigioni of Rome, Patti of Montesilvano (PE).
On the first day of December 2024, Bertram Derthona rewrites the club's history. After the first seven failed attempts, the black and white team breaks the Milan taboo by winning the Unipol Forum in Assago matchday ninth of the Unipol Serie A by 98-94. The team coached by Walter De Raffaele succeeds not only by leading the score for forty minutes at the home of the three-time Italian champions EA7 Emporio Armani, fresh from beating Euroleague leaders Fenerbahce in Turkey, but also by reintroducing their claws after having seen Olimpia complete the comeback from a +25 lead in the first half, and a +20 lead still on their side halfway through the third quarter, to -1 with less than three minutes to go and with the inertia of the match that seemed to be able to reward them, nullifying the great performance of the Tortona team. But the point-to-point finish that had condemned Tortona in the three previous championship matches saw them triumph this time with a reaction of great character.
Bertram builds its magical evening at the Forum with a rocket start that bears the signature of the American trio composed of Vital, Kuhse and the omnipotent Gorham, in his best version in the Derthona jersey taking strength from his extreme precision in shooting from beyond the arc (4/4 from three in the first half, 5/6 at the end). Baldasso also takes part in the festival of bombs (6/8 in the first quarter) and closes the inaugural quarter with 31 points and above all with Tortona +14. An advantage that “pales” in comparison to the even more effective second period of Bertram, because, when Milan tries to sew up, on the other side 5 points in a row arrive from Weems that allow two new baskets from a longer distance from Kuhse and Gorham to go well beyond the twenty point margin: 24-49 at 15', with the American power forward who has already surpassed his previous record in Serie A with 14 points halfway through the second period. The Derthona party continues also on a personal level for Andrea Zerini, who with his entrance on the court celebrates 350 appearances in the LBA, while Kuhse takes care of maintaining the advantage above twenty until entering the locker rooms, 37-58.
Milan returns to the field as perhaps expected, opens the second half with a 10-0 produced above all by two triples by Mirotic and Brooks (47-58 at 23') and then the difficult three-pointer by Kuhse (30 evaluation with 9/12 shooting and 6 assists) is worth a lot to break the tension, also because it is imitated later by the usual Gorham and by the personal 4-0 by Strautins who gets back into the game after the sudden problems with fouls (49-68 at 25'). However, Milan now scores regularly, the firepower Brooks (12 points in the third quarter) allows them to go to the last mini-break with a -11 that cannot leave any certainties to Bertram (66-77). And in fact, thanks to the bonus used up with seven minutes to go and despite a couple of baskets of enormous personality by Baldasso, LeDay definitively puts Milan back in touch with free throws with five minutes still on the clock, 82-85. The final stages are thrilling, at -1 by Mirotic (86-87 at -2'45”), Weems' dunk responds, but even more so the subsequent one with a foul by Kamagate on a set by Kuhse, also converted with the additional free throw by the very cold French pivot for 88-92 with just under 2 minutes to go. There Derthona wins it in defense, taking the breath away from the Milanese attack, Gorham in the same action defends winningly first on Mirotic and then on Shields' drive shot, Severini imitates him a little later on LeDay and at -30” Kuhse makes the stop and shot inside the area that seems to be able to take down Milan once and for all, 88-95. However, they haven't counted on Shields yet, the American finds two of his three-pointers to put the gap between the two teams back to just one possession at -8" (94-97), systematic foul on Baldasso who gives his fans a few shivers by missing the first free throw but scoring the second for complete safety.
Bertram, who started the match alone in eighth place in the standings, thus returns to success by collecting two important points in the race for the Final Eight of the Italian Cup, rising to 10 points, two less than Milan, and to seventh place, catching up with Trieste who, however, has already defeated them and therefore leaves them in reality eighth place.
Bertram now has a double home round in the championship, at the PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris there will be direct clashes with Nutribullet Treviso and Umana Reyer Venezia.
STATEMENTS “I am very happy with the victory and for my players, as well as for the many fans who came", are the first words of the coach after the match De Raffaele. "Honestly, we were good at taking advantage of Milan's tiredness after their great victory in Istanbul, but this shouldn't take away credit from our team, which played with great attention and deserved to win. We expected Milan to come back after our great first half of the game, in which we had a strong impact with points from many players. It's a success that gives us a lot of drive, we had a few lapses because this is a group that still has to get to know each other, but tonight is a victory that should give us great energy because it doesn't happen often to win in Milan. We knew - goes on - that for talent, quality and physicality Milan would have come back, we managed to respond to an initial push by giving another, then they definitively came back also because we made some mistakes, but we did not fall apart and we managed to bring home a point-by-point finale for some details that in the previous matches had condemned us”.
