Bertram wins on nerves: Benfica tamed in the final, Tortona remains unbeaten in the Champions League
Bertram Derthona – Benfica 77-71
(14-19, 35-45, 57-61)
Bertram: Zerini, Vital 14, Kuhse 11, Gorham 2, Candi, Denegri 5, Strautins 18, Baldasso, Kamagate 9, Biligha, Severini 12, Weems 6. All. De Raffaele.
Benfica: Francisco 10, Broussard 8, Thornton 13, Barbosa, Drechsel 14, Ben Romdhane 4, Gameiro, Relvao 6, Gomes 6, Carvacho 10. Coach Alves.
Referees: Deman (FRA), Baki (TUR), Vulic (CRO).
viewers: 1400.
Bertram Derthona's journey in the Basketball Champions League continues without obstacles. In the opening of the return round of Group G, the black and white team beat Benfica 77-71 at the PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris in Casale Monferrato, their fourth win in as many games this season in the top FIBA club competition. Having thus earned a mathematical pass at least for the Play-In, the last two away games in Chemnitz and Manresa will be decisive in order to play for the first place in the final standings and the consequent direct qualification to the second phase groups, with the latter having conquered the Germans' parquet last night (78-89) in the opening match of the fourth day.
Against the reigning champions Portugal, already beaten in Lisbon by 72-58 two weeks ago, Tortona overcame the obvious difficulties of the first half by showing a completely different side in the second half, where the powerful 14-2 run out of the locker rooms began to put things right in the bottom of the group after the -10 of the first half. In the final five minutes, which began in a balanced situation but with the Lisbon team still ahead, 67-68, Tortona won with defense, with a series of defensive recoveries that saw Vital shine (5 steals in total), and on the other side of the court with Severini (the most consistent of the black and whites, 4/5 from three) and above all Strautins, author of a 7-0 all his own for the overtaking and the extension of 74-68 with 1'59" to go, finished off with a defensive interception again by the Latvian from which came the basket by Kamagate that at -90" brought Tortona to +8 no longer recoverable by the appreciable Portuguese opponent, who managed to strongly scare the home team despite the absences of two of their Americans, Ahmaad Rorie (already absent from the first leg) and Tyler Stone.
In the standings, Bertram thus maintains the lead alone at 8 points, sending Manresa back to 2 points behind, while the two losers of this round, Chemnitz and Benfica, remain at 2 and 0 points respectively. For the Champions League there is now almost a month of break, for Derthona it will resume on December 10 with the trip to Chemnitz and on December 17 on the field of Manresa to find out its fate after this first phase. In the championship, however, the appointment is much closer, on Sunday at 17:30 at the PalaEnergica Germani Brescia arrives for the eighth day of the Serie A Unipol, the last round before the break for the national commitments.
STATEMENTS The best scorer of the match presents himself at the press conference, Arthur Strautins: "It wasn't a good game for us, but the most important thing is how we started the third quarter, the character we showed. We showed that we are capable of fighting and coming out victorious even in a situation that became complicated like the one tonight."
“There is not much to add to Arturs' words”, is the incipit of coach Walter De Raffaele. "I agree with him, we were very soft in the first half, while in the second we changed face. Benfica played very well, for us it is an important victory precisely because of the ability to have turned it around after a fair part of the game played with difficulty".
