Derthona has quarter-finals of European nobility: triumph against Würzburg, Bertram among the "magnificent eight" of Champions
Bertram Derthona Tortona – FIT/One Würzburg 80-74
(18-17, 40-32, 65-56)
Tortona : Zerini, Vital 13, Kuhse 10, Gorham 2, Candi 7, Denegri ne, Baldasso 3, Kamagate 15, Biligha 14, Severini, Josovic ne, Weems 16. Coach De Raffaele.
Würzburg : Lewis 4, Seljaas 18, Konè, Wishart ne, Klassen 6, Ugrai, Steinbach, Bleck, Mintz 13, Wank, Dawkins 2, Jackson 31. All. Filipovski.
Referees : Conde (ESP), Anaya (PAN), Manniste (EST).
Spectators : 1734.
The eighth wonder, meaning consecutive victories between the championship and the cup, allows Bertram Derthona Tortona to reach the quarterfinals of the Basketball Champions League. It happens on an exhilarating afternoon-evening at the end of March, when the black and white team coached by Walter De Raffaele wins the play-off challenge of Group I against FIT/One Würzburg, beaten 80-74 in the boiling PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris of Casale Monferrato on the sixth and final day of the group: Tortona thus conquers the second final place in the standings and qualifies among the "magnificent eight" of the top European competition for FIBA clubs. Another page of history is written for the Lions' club.
Tortona enters an Olympus that also sees qualified Tenerife, Malaga, AEK Athens, Galatasaray, Reggio Emilia, Nymburk and Nanterre. Now the wait is for the play-off this Friday to know the opponent of the quarter-final series, best of three games, against one of the winners of the other three groups of this second group phase, Tenerife, Malaga or Nymburk.
A much more choral performance by Bertram, five men in double figures of points with a special mention for the "all-around" performance by Kyle Weems (7 rebounds and 6 assists in addition to 16 points), captain of a real group that on the other side essentially had to face the usual Jhivvan Jackson, whose 31 points repeated the 34 of the German victory in the first leg but were not enough this time to allow Bertram to catch up and overtake them in the standings, finishing with 8 points leaving the Bavarians with 4, behind only the leaders AEK.
After a few minutes of studying, the two teams begin to respond blow for blow with Kuhse on one side and Seljaas and Jackson on the other. However, it is Candi and Biligha coming off the bench who excite the crowd with a series of defensive snatches concluded by winning counterattacks that serve to close the first period ahead by a small margin, 18-17. The free throws by Biligha and Kamagate try a half-extension for Derthona in a moment in which the other big man Zerini is also important (24-19 at 13'), but the usual Jackson-Seljaas duo immediately takes care of putting things back on level terms with a couple of baskets from beyond the arc. Kuhse also does great things on the offensive rebound (3 at half time for the playmaker), Vital's first chance in the game comes from long range, but Weems is the Lions' cover man already in the first half with the basket from outside the box that gives the team a new maximum lead, 40-32, going into the locker rooms.
In the first action of the second half the lead goes into double digits (42-32 with Vital), but Jackson continues to rage, he has almost half of the German points on his personal scoreboard (24) when Würzburg returns to parity with two free throws by Mintz, 50-50 at 26'. As in the first quarter, it is still Biligha and Candi who rekindle Tortona, which catches fire with Vital's triple to bring the lead back into double digits and it is again the American guard who strikes from beyond the arc to bring Bertram to the new maximum gap (65-54), which only the support in the final by the usual Jackson reduces to 65-56 at the end of the quarter. Derthona maintains the safety margin for the entire half of the fourth quarter, Weems' 2+1 on an assist from Kuhse is worth the 70-63 with which they present themselves at the sprint of the final five minutes, the Kuhse-Kamagate axis packages the +10 with the Frenchman's dive on the sixth assist from the playmaker (76-66), but the Germans do not give up and at -2'17” Mintz creates the 76-70. From there the real sprint begins: Jackson and Mintz are scary (76-74 at -1'06”), Weems is good at drawing a foul and glacial in making two free throws, 78-74 at -48”, Seljaas misses a three and on the rebound the touch with the guests' foot gives the ball back to Bertram amid the exultation of the PalaEnergica. Upon returning from the time-out he finishes the entire leap above Biligha's rim to tap in inside the net 80-74 with 8” to go.
The quarterfinal draw will take place at 11:30 a.m. on Friday at the House of Basketball in Mies, Switzerland, and will be streamed live on the official Basketball Champions League YouTube channel. Having finished second, Bertram will play with home advantage in the quarterfinal that will begin in the second week of April: Game 1 away is scheduled for 8-9, Game 2 at home for 15-16 and the possible away “dead” for 22-23. The prestigious ticket to the Final Four on May 8-11 is up for grabs.
STATEMENTS Kyle Weems and coach Walter De Raffaele spoke in the post-match press conference . “ I'm really, really happy with this historic result. It's something big, which makes our season exciting. This is a young club, especially young in Europe, but at the same time ambitious, and we're happy to have fulfilled these ambitions with this kind of result,” commented De Raffaele . "It was a tough match. Congratulations to Würzburg, Coach Filipovski, and the German club because they played a great group. But we sacrificed ourselves throughout the game, even beyond the physical issues. We had problems during the week with Vital and Severini, but the medical staff did a great job. This result is part of the process we've been talking about all season and it's something we can draw energy from to push forward in the league as well. We'll celebrate until midnight today, but then we'll regain our focus. I'm happy for the club, the players, and the fans: every time you have the chance to write pages in the club's history, it's something unforgettable. Well done to Reggio Emilia too. In general, it's a great result for our entire movement to have two teams in the BCL quarterfinals." " Congratulations to my teammates, Coach Walter, the coaching staff, the medical staff, and the trainers ," the Juventus captain began . "We've had tough times, especially in February, but we never gave up. We've always stuck together. This has led to the current great results, a total team effort, including victories in our league. Congratulations to our owner, Dr. Gavio, to our president, Picchi, and to our fans; everyone contributed to this historic achievement . "
