It's a magical night in Casale: Derthona beats the Italian champions
Bertram Derthona-Virtus Segafredo Bologna 93-76
(20-22, 51-36, 73-65)
Scoreboards:
Derthona: Mortellaro ne, Wright 14, Rota ne, Cannon 6, Tavernelli 10, Filloy 8, Mascolo 12, Severini ne, Daum 18, Cain 10, Macura 15. Coach Ramondino
Bologna: Cordinier 4, Tessitori, Mannion 15, Pajola ne, Alibegovic 4, Hervey 5, Ruzzier, Jaiteh 8, Alexander, Ceron ne, Weems 28, Teodosic 12. Coach Scariolo
The perfect match, an evening to remember forever. Bertram Derthona plays a sumptuous match in front of the Italian champions Virtus Bologna, in a PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris with great occasions and painted pink for the AIRC. After a balanced first quarter, the Lions decisively took control of the match, progressively extending their margin and achieving a historic success.
First quarter of a high level at PalaEnergica: after Virtus' sprint start, Bertram returns to contact, raising the intensity of the defense and finding good solutions in attack. At 10' the score is 20-22. Derthona then plays a perfect and exhilarating second quarter on both halves of the pitch, putting great energy on the parquet and significantly tightening the defense. The break produced by the team trained by coach Ramondino, driven by the encouragement from the arena, is important and is worth the 51-36 at the interval.
Upon returning from the locker room, Virtus made an important reaction, led by Weems' three-point baskets, and returned several times to within two possessions. Repelling attempts at a further comeback is Captain Tavernelli, who inflames the PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris crowd, and allows Bertram to close ahead 73-65 in the 30th minute. In the last quarter Bertram made a new powerful acceleration, flying to +19 (86-67) in the 35th minute with Wright's triple. In the final stages the team coached by coach Ramondino manages the accumulated margin and triumphs 93-76.
Coach Ramondino said after the match: "It was a very good game, excellent at times, so congratulations to the boys for their competitive spirit and execution. Tonight we want to thank the people who came to the arena , because the enthusiasm and positivity they conveyed to us were important. We hope to have this atmosphere in future matches too, because tonight too there were ups and downs, but the perception was completely different. The crowd was decisive and encouraged us in the plays we made, I emphasize that again . Severini did not play for technical reasons, while Sanders had severe knee pain, so he was unable to contribute. These two months of the season have shown that definitive assessments cannot be made; we have to be happy with the performance in today's context, because just as the game in Trieste was not fatal, today's is not definitive. Virtus has a deep roster, a different technical identity depending on the players it can put on the field, an impressive game organization and it is the team that conveyed the greatest sense of control over the matches: in addition to the technical and tactical aspects, on a mental level we worked on moving on and moving on to the next action no matter what happened on the field.
