Kuhse leads Bertram in blitz in Varese: 100-point barrier broken for second win out of two in championship
Openjobmetis Varese – Bertram Derthona 95-105
(28-29, 60-51, 73-82)
Scoreboards:
Varese : Akobundu-Ehiogu 9, Harris 6, Alviti 11, Mannion 32, Gray 11, Librizzi 2, Virginio ne, Assui ne, Fall, Brown 8, Hands 16. All. Mandole.
Bertram : Zerini ne, Vital 18, Kuhse 31, Gorham 5, Candi, Denegri 2, Strautins 12, Baldasso 6, Kamagate 12, Biligha 6, Severini 2, Weems 11. All. De Raffaele.
Referees : Rossi, Gonella, Marziali.
Bertram Derthona conquers the Itelyum Arena, breaking the 100-point barrier and giving themselves the perfect week. The victory over the hosts of Openjobmetis Varese by 105-95 in the second day of the Serie A Unipol completes a splendid trio of victories in this first week of the season between the championship and the Champions League and keeps Walter De Raffaele's Bianconeri at full points at the top of the standings. In a game with two faces, the protagonist of the success is an amazing Tommy Kuhse, the American point guard is the star from start to finish (31 points, 5/8 from three, 13/19 from the field, 6 assists, 7 rebounds, 35 evaluation) and inspires the tremendous 22-0 break by Tortona that turns the challenge around, from 69-58 for Varese after a few minutes from the start of the second half to 69-80 with 1'30” left in the last mini-break, an advantage never recovered by the home team. The dominance on the rebounds was also decisive, 47-32 the total count, 21-8 in the offensive ones with 6 snatched by Kamagate and 4 by Gorham. For Bertram it is the third victory on the Varese court in four matches at the top tournament level.
Starting at a dizzying pace, Openjobmetis – which had started with a 10-0 – tried to extend its lead three times in the first half, driven mainly by Mannion (18 points already at the end of the first half), by the prodigious leaps of Akobundu-Ehiogu and by the triples of Alviti, Bertram responded in terms of scoring with Kuhse, Strautins, Baldasso and Vital (15 points at halftime, 3/6 from three), the author of the triple on the buzzer with which Bertram went to the locker room more reassured for the long break, even if the 60 points conceded in defense put them behind by 9 after the first half, which had seen after eight minutes the official debut with the Derthona jersey of Justin Gorham, absent in the first two outings between the championship and the Champions League.
At the beginning of the second half, Varese seemed to want to go away with more determination, but from 69-58 in Lombardy the famous Bertram partial started, with Gorham also being the protagonist with his first official points, also protagonist of the episode that led to the expulsion of Alviti due to a slap in the face of the American power forward after a prolonged contact between the two.
When Weems also scores for the first time from beyond the arc, Bertram reaches 90 points, two precious offensive rebounds by Kamagate are converted into two dunks by the French pivot, a third arrives on an assist by Vital but it is always Kuhse who closes a fairytale performance and the contest with two consecutive triples straddling the 100-point mark for the 90-103 that leaves no escape for Varese despite 3 minutes still to play.
The next championship match will be at home against Pallacanestro Trieste, a match of the third day scheduled for Saturday 12 October at 19 pm at the PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris in Casale Monferrato.
QUOTES “We played two different games. In the first half, we showed a low level of defense against the great offensive quality of Varese, especially Mannion, but in the second half we held them to 35 points, changing situations on the pick & roll and containing Mannion himself ,” was the analysis of coach Walter De Raffaele . “Congratulations to my boys because at this point in the season, winning like this against a Varese team that was really hungry was not easy, capping off an excellent week for us. The rebounding dominance? We were very present with everyone, Biligha and Gorham changed several situations tactically for us. But in general, everyone understood that we needed to change our approach compared to the first half. Run and shoot is not our style, and by reading the match better in the second half, we managed to turn the result around . ”
