Bitter debut in the BCL Top 16: Bertram misses out on sprint victory, Würzburg rejoices
FIT/One Würzburg – Bertram Derthona Tortona 80-79
(18-16, 39-36, 53-56)
Würzburg: Lewis 13, Konè 5, Wishart 1, Klassen 5, Ugrai 2, Steinbach 11, Sklandanowski ne, Wank, Dawkins 7, Williams 2, Jackson 34. All. Filipovski.
Tortona: Zerini, Vital 23, Kuhse 5, Gorham 11, Candi, Denegri 18, Strautins 4, Baldasso 6, Kamagate 10, Biligha, Severini, Weems 2. All. De Raffaele.
Referees: Conde (ESP), Castillo (ESP), Yilmaz (TUR).
Bertram Derthona's Top 16 starts with a sprint defeat. At the Tectake Arena, the hosts FIT/One Würzburg hold on to the two points of the opening game of Group I of the second group stage of the Basketball Champions League in Germany.
The final score of 80-79 materializes with the two free throws of the overtaking scored by the star Jhivvan Jackson with 4 and a half seconds left on the clock, not overturned by the desperate attempt from beyond the arc by Denegri at the buzzer on the change of front. Thus the defeat materializes in a game that until a few seconds before seemed to be in the hands of the black and whites, ahead by 4 points with 21” to go, 75-79, after the umpteenth 2/2 from the free throw line by Vital (13/14 from the free throw line) on the systematic fouls of the Bavarians. From there, a great three-pointer by Lewis at -15", combined with a turnover by Vital three seconds later and the subsequent foul by the same American guard from Tortona on Jackson, allowed the decisive trip to the free throw line for the Puerto Rican point guard from Würzburg, the all-time top scorer in the Bundesliga who with his 34 points made up for the confirmed absence of Zac Seljaas.
With his 7 triples and 21 points scored in the first half, Jackson himself had been the one who had made the Bavarians prefer for over two quarters (47-39 at 22' as maximum advantage), but then Vital and above all the great impact of Davide Denegri in the playmaking role (18 points, 20 evaluation and +23 plus/minus in 21') concretized a comeback with an overtaking that in the last three minutes reached three times the +7 as maximum margin of advantage, the last one at 1'15" from the siren after a stop and shot by Vital (68-75). Then, triggered by two free throws by Jackson, a tap-in by Steinbach and another three points with the clock stopped by Jackson on a foul by Vital who shortly before had scored two for Derthona, the unexpected ending.
Würzburg thus becomes the first team in Group I to move up the standings, climbing to 2 points ahead of the other match in the group scheduled for tomorrow with the Greek derby between AEK Betsson Athens and Promitheas Patras Vikos Cola. Next week, in Greece, Bertram will play their second consecutive away match in this opening round, on Tuesday 4 February at 18:30 Italian time at the SUNEL Arena in Athens against AEK.
STATEMENTS After the match they talked Davide Denegri and coach Walter De Raffaele. "A defeat that is really hard to digest.”, says the Derthona playmaker. “It's the second time in three days that it happens on the last possession, we definitely have to improve in this aspect because we've lost so many times this season.". "Würzburg believed until the end, we tried to fight on every possession and in the last three minutes we were doing everything well, but honestly we gave away the victory with two fouls. It's really hard to understand why but sometimes it happens.”, the comment of De Raffaele. "Another one-possession loss, we need to get back to work on improving this aspect, once again. Basketball is about details and those details make the difference”.
