A heroic Bertram celebrates in Trento: Gorham says… 35, a screaming victory at the home of the league leaders and new Cup winners
Dolomiti Energia Trentino – Bertram Derthona Tortona 85-89
(24-18, 40-38, 66-63)
Trento: Ellis ne, Cale 9, Ford 7, Pecchia 20, S. Niang 14, Forray 8, P. Niang ne, Mawugbe 9, Lamb 11, Zukauskas 7, Hassan ne. All. Galbiati.
Derthona: Zerini ne, Vital 7, Kuhse 16, Gorham 35, Candi 4, Farias ne, Denegri 2, Baldasso 10, Kamagate 6, Biligha 2, Severini 2, Weems 5. Coach De Raffaele.
Referees: Lanzarini of Bologna, Noce of Latina, Patti of Montesilvano (PE).
viewers: 4000.
Bertram Derthona Tortona puts an exciting end to its negative period. At home to Dolomiti Energia Trentino, the league's sole leader and fresh winner of the Coppa Italia, the black and white team won 89-85 in the early game of the 20th day of the Serie A Unipol, returning to success after a streak of six defeats between the league and the Champions League and repeating that of the first leg. Tortona thus confirms itself as Trento's bête noire (12-3 at Serie A level), doing so on the day of the home team's super celebration for the fresh triumph in the tricolor tournament and also in a situation of great difficulty in the rotations due to the absences during the game of Vital, who did not return in the second half after suffering a sprain on the last shot of the first half, and Kamagate, also out for the entire fourth period due to a physical problem. Justin Gorham with a 35-point performance (a new record in Serie A for a Derthona player, beating the previous one of 33 by Daum in 2021/22) with 13/16 from the field for a 42 evaluation is the MVP of the feat that relaunches the playoff ambitions of Bertram, who at Il T Quotidiano Arena consolidates its eighth position by rising to 22 points.
Facing a Trento without Ellis (returned injured from the English national team) but with the charge of the sold-out ensured by its 4 thousand cheering fans, Tortona starts in a convincing way thanks to the precision in the three-point shot, of Kuhse in particular, to which the home team responds with many baskets from below and with the athleticism of Niang (8 points in the opening quarter) to facilitate the 7-0 with which they close ahead the first quarter sealed on the buzzer by a triple from very far away by Ford for the 24-18. Trento does not decrease in intensity, in the second period the counterattacks of Pecchia and Ford bring them to a double-digit advantage (38-27 at 17') but Bertram quickly gets back on their feet with the 11-0 counterbreak that bears the clear signature of Gorham (9 points in the partial) for the tie at 38 just before the interval. The end of the first half did not end under good auspices, however, after Cale's two free throws for the new Trentino lead, Vital shot a three-pointer at the sound of the buzzer, landing badly on his ankle and remaining on the ground in pain before going into the locker room where he could not take it anymore.
Despite the absence of its starting guard and the pushes given by Pecchia (16 personal in the 51-45 Trentino), Bertram is the protagonist of a third quarter still on par, even finding the overtaking a couple of times, both times with the bombs of Baldasso (57-58 at 27'). At the 6-0 between the last two quarters that distances Trento (70-63) it is Kuhse and the usual Gorham to reply by placing a 2-11 that makes the arrow push back the guests (72-73). Forray and Pecchia try again to give the lead to the Trentino (79-73), but the hosts must deal again with Gorham, who goes over the 30 points with 5 in a row for the 83-82 that gives the final point to point with 1'21" to go. The Tortona defense forces Trento to a 24-second violation and Gorham (4/6 from three) is again amazing in also making the difficult triple for +2 with 45” to go, 83-85. It will become the winning basket: Weems takes a precious defensive rebound on Cale's mistake and serves Candi who suffers the tactical foul, the Tortona winger shows up at the free throw line and doesn't forgive, 83-87 with 20” to go, Niang immediately scores from the time-out for 85-87, Kuhse doesn't miss from the free throw line for 85-89 with 16”, Cale misses the three-point shot with 12” to go and on Severini's rebound the Tortona joy can explode.
There are now two consecutive home games on the horizon. The first in the Champions League against the Greeks of Promitheas Patrasso, arriving in Casale Monferrato on Tuesday at 20:30 for the last first leg of Group I of the Top 16, the second in the championship with the challenge on Sunday at 16:XNUMX against Openjobmetis Varese.
STATEMENTS "Certainly a very important victory, with a great desire to rebel against so many games lost in the sprint, this time we were much more lucid", the coach's comment Walter De Raffaele. "I am very happy for my players, especially for the spirit of sacrifice they have shown given the absences of Vital and Kamagate during the game, as well as the notable absence of Strautins. As our captain Weems told his teammates in the embrace at midfield, we must draw energy from this victory for the rest of the season."
