Complications for Derthona and Piacenza will be there tomorrow evening
Derthona Basket – Fortitudo Bologna 79-87
(21-12, 40-43, 57-66)
Derthona : Rotondo 11, Cernivani 6, Vitali 7, Gioria 14, Gatti 4, Samoggia 24, Strotz, Viglianisi 13. Stanojevic and Gay ne. All. Arioli
CUS Torino -Derthona Basket 77-62
(21-15, 40-20, 56-48)
Derthona: Cernivani 4, Vitali 4, Gioria 21, Venuto 10, Gatti, Samoggia 4, Strotz 5, Viglianisi 14, Stanojevic and Gay ne.. Coach Arioli.
Derthona's clock isn't running properly, as they miss the first two matches of the additional phase of this final of the regular season, losing first at home to Fortitudo and then in Turin against bottom team CUS. Two games marked by injuries that heavily influenced the performances of the Bianconeri, always in the hunt for a victory that would guarantee first place overall in view of the next playoffs.
Against Bologna, despite Venuto's absence, Arioli's boys started well, taking the lead in the first quarter with Vitali hitting two heavy bombs. In the second half however, despite some good play from Gatti, they were caught by Fortitudo pushed by the Caroldi-Venturelli duo.
Upon returning from the changing rooms, another nasty blow hits the Tortona team with Vitali's early stop (foot injury) who was also called to replace Venuto as director. Thus the home team's strategies fail, with Viglianisi forced to work overtime in directing the game, while the guests also find the right evening for the marksman Verri who repeatedly opens the Juventus zone, when another accident hits Derthona, with Rotondo who he takes a bad hit to his knee. At the start of the last stage, the Samoggia - Gioria duo showed pride, reducing to just 3 points a deficit that had even exceeded 10, but more would be needed from the Gatti - Cernivani duo to counteract the Emilian resistance, which did not let it slip away the opportunity to reduce the disadvantage in the standings by recovering two important points over our team.
Only time to say a word and after three days we return to the Turin parquet, where Venuto and Vitali recover (by necessity) but as a precaution Rotondo is left to rest. CUS, desperate for safety points, immediately took the reins of the match, moving ahead in the score, with the Samoggia-Gioria pairing trying to respond. But the worst comes in the second half with Derthona who, after 5 initial points from Viglianisi, freezes and incredibly doesn't score for 9 minutes! With a run of 17-0, CUS ends the half-time lead by 20 points at 40-20 and it's the middle of the night for the Bianconeri!
In the third quarter the leaders return as such: first Gioria, then Viglianisi and later Cernivani seem to reopen the match at 46-40. An exchange of triples follows between Venuto and Ficetti with Derthona even reaching -5 at 48-43, but Ficetti is very inspired and offers Tuci the ball to send the threat back to the sender, before Gioria's experience in free throws, keep Derthona and the game alive: 56-48 at 30'.
But the last half had only one protagonist: CUS Torino, with good shooting percentages, rebound dominance and precision from the foul line. For their part, the Bianconeri find the net once in the first six minutes with Vitali, then only Gioria holds the honor high: too little to counteract the hunger for victory of the university team who finish ahead by +15, decreeing the Tortona crisis.
Tomorrow evening (Wednesday 30 April at 21.15pm) Piacenza will arrive, overtaken last Monday at the PalaDozza by Fortitudo who are now only two points behind Samoggia & co. The Piacenza team are one of the best teams at the moment and for Derthona, not all that remains is to hope for the recovery of the starters to regain the right condition and grab the two long-awaited points and definitively close the first phase in the lead and, above all, not to postpone expectations until the final on Sunday in Castelfiorentino, hungry for successes to avoid the play-off anti-relegation.
