Tortona falls once again in the final: Brescia confirms its black beast and passes to PalaEnergica
Bertram Derthona – Germani Brescia 78-85
(23-29, 45-49, 66-64)
Bertram: Zerini ne, Vital 6, Kuhse 17, Gorham 7, Candi, Denegri 2, Strautins 8, Baldasso 10, Kamagate 8, Biligha 3, Severini 11, Weems 6. Coach De Raffaele.
Brescia: Bilan 10, Ferrero n/a, Dowe 8, Della Valle 14, Ndour 8, Burnell 12, Tonelli n/a, Ivanovic 17, Mobio 3, Rivers 11, Cournooh 2, Pollini n/a. Coach Poeta.
Referees: Lanzarini from Bologna, Paglialunga from Massafra (TA), Catani from Pescara.
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Bertram Derthona falls back in the fatal finals of the game. It does so for the third consecutive time in the championship and it happens in the challenge of the eighth day of the Serie A Unipol against Germani Brescia, who wins at the PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris in Casale Monferrato by 85-78. Tortona is unable to break the taboo against the Brescia team, which extends to 6 the winning streak in direct clashes of the last three seasons between Serie A and Supercoppa. Derthona misses the opportunity to pick up important points in view of the Final Eight of the Coppa Italia in the direct clash that began with two points in the standings in favor of the Lombardy team at the halfway point of the first round.
And the match was also balanced, with Brescia always good at responding immediately to Bertram's attempts to break away, especially in the third period, with Kamagate and Strautins, who had been held back by fouls until then, putting together a resounding 10-0 run for the 62-56 in the 27th minute, which represented the maximum advantage in the match for the black and whites, who then paid for the final three minutes that decided the match in favor of the guests in the final point by point.
Germani is preferred at the beginning by taking advantage of the greater efficiency near the basket (72% in two-point shooting at half time) but without managing to produce more than the +4 with which they go to the long break, 45-49, because Gorham and Severini (the most consistent) are the authors of a prolific second period in terms of scoring, after Kuhse had started very strong in a first quarter where Brescia had been able to score 29 points by relying on its usual high rhythms. Three dunks by Kamagate assisted by his teammates and a 6-0 by Strautins bring Tortona to the maximum advantage, but as happened in previous overtakings Brescia takes a moment to recover with the counterbreak by Burnell and the former Dowe (62-62). The game proceeds elastically, the Tortona counter-response is entrusted to Baldasso, who not only closes the home team ahead for the first time at the end of the quarter buzzer, 66-64 at 30', but also scores the triple that opens the final period. With four minutes to go, there is still no master, with the two playmakers Ivanovic (13 points in the second half) and Kuhse answering each other from beyond the arc for 76-77 and Strautins signing a new overtaking for Derthona from the free throw line but committing the fifth foul in the subsequent defense at -2'45". From there the game turns in Brescia's favor, because on the third offensive rebound of his team in the same action, Rivers puts Brescia back ahead, strengthened by the most comfortable of baskets from below by Bilan with exactly 1 minute to go, 78-81. A short shot by Vital and a turnover by Kuhse, interspersed and followed by a free throw each by Della Valle and Rivers (78-83 at -32”) create the gap that the two subsequent shooting errors by Weems and Severini cannot overturn. In the standings Brescia thus rises to 12 points, Tortona remains at 8 but still in the playoffs with its solitary eighth place.
Now the championship stops for a week. When it resumes, Tortona will go to the Unipol Forum in Assago to challenge EA7 Emporio Armani Milano, a match scheduled for Sunday, December 1st at 16:30.
STATEMENTS “Brescia deserved a victory achieved thanks to the experience of its players, a team of veterans who know exactly what to do when the match is decided”, is the beginning of coach's comment Walter De Raffaele. "There is regret because, in the face of a physical and tough match that we had put back on our feet, we are commenting on another defeat due to naivety in the last three minutes. Naivety, carelessness, unfortunately at these levels the details make the difference, I had said it in the previous defeats and I must repeat it. There must be the clarity and control to know what to do when the match is decided, instead in the last week and a half we have recorded the same inexperience. I am sorry - keep it going - that Strautins could not express what he could do while being out for several minutes due to sudden foul problems. Now we have to recover our energy because we have spent a lot of it in these twenty days and then work in the gym because it's not like I have many other medicines. The players will have to take their own responsibilities, it is required by the growth of a team designed with several foreign rookies but that must make progress because I personally register the same matrix in the defeats, a team that competes with everyone by putting its head forward in important moments but then loses it".
