Bertram Derthona's play-off adventure ends. Udine wins 73-74
Bertram Derthona – GSA Udine 73-74
(11-12,34-30, 50-48,64-64)
BERTRAM DERTHONA: Cremaschi ne, Alibegovic 6, Sorokas 24, Radonjic, Apuzzo ne, Quaglia 2, Garri 11, Billi ne, Gergati 2, Johnson 21, Spanghero 7. All. Pansa.
GSA UDINE: Dykes 22, Mortellaro 4, Raspino 2, Nobile 2, Caupain 16, Pinton 6, Ferrari 2, Pellegrino 9, Benevelli 8, Diop ne, Bushati 3. All. Lardo.
It ends after an exciting game 4, in a Pala Oltrepo' very warm and grateful to his favorites, the adventure of Bertram Derthona in the play-offs.
The Lions close a year full of satisfactions sanctioned by the fourth consecutive qualification for the play-offs, culminating then with the historic Italian cup victory, giving in with a handful of seconds left to a Gsa team that had the merit of never giving up, not even at 64-55 with 2'30" left in regulation.
The Lions they give in to a handful of seconds from the end, after leading the match for almost 40 minutes. The desire, the desire to win were not enough to cope with the American duo of GSA authors of 38 points overall, many of which in the final moments of the game.
A game drawn point by point, where in the end the energy ran out of a Derthona who was stoic in his resistance, without Stefanelli and Meluzzi and opposed to a longer and more physical team.
In the end, PalaOltrepo' gave all the fans a goosebumps match, with the Lions managing to play until the 45th minute, when Sorokas' last desperate attempt did not climb high enough to enter the basket .
Marco Picchi"We must try to take stock and we cannot forget where we started from.
This year we gave up in front of Udine, but I think my feelings were different compared to 12 months ago.
Today I'm very sad because I think these guys deserved game 5; based on what we saw on the pitch we deserved to play the beautiful game on Thursday.
It was a fantastic season which culminated with the victory in Jesi, but this is year zero and I can tell you that from tomorrow morning we will roll up our sleeves on all pitches to make the Derthona Basketball even more solid. I thank Benjamin Gavio which has given us new perspectives that we didn't imagine at the beginning of the year.
The other person I thank is Luigino Fassino who for the last time was sitting on the bench of Derthona Basketball and who, after 28 years, leaves a team at this level. Luigino wrote a wonderful page on sport.
I want to thank you then Lorenzo Pansa because as I already said he took the heart of this city, he played great basketball and even during this series he knew how to fight, even if perhaps with unequal weapons.
This is just a goodbye and we can have some very good years ahead of us."
Lorenzo Pansa"It's difficult to talk at this moment because there is a mix of completely discordant emotions.
There is bitterness at having lost this match having been a whisker away from victory.
In this we did excellent things alternating with moments of heartfelt resistance and in which we understood nothing. Having said that, the only thing I can say is that I couldn't ask for more from these guys.
Let's take into account that the boys played their fourth match in a week against a team with very different rotations.
I wish Lardo good luck because I saw a different protagonist in every game and I thank him for the words he said to me. They go thanks to my team and I want to thank people behind the scenes like Edward Casalone e Vanni Talpo.
Maybe this year we had to overcome some initial mistrust, but when we succeeded the environment brought us back to tranquility. This is a moment in which I really want to thank everyone and cherish the feeling of an exciting season".
