Basketball: Virtus Bologna, Venice and Milan win the first of the playoffs
ROME – The contenders for the title do not stick to their debut in the play-offs of the top Italian championship: Race 1 of the quarter-finals sees the successes of Bologna on Pesaro (82-76), Venice on the Tortona parquet (66-77) and Milan against Reggio Emilia (91-82), while to complete the picture it will be necessary to wait on Monday evening for the confrontation at PalaLeonessa between Brescia and Sassari, which for the tenth time out of eleven seasons in Serie A is in the post season, but Germani wants to continue to dream and the awards received at the LBA Awards (Della Valle best Italian, Mitrou-Long best rookie, Magro coach of the year and De Benedetto best manager) say a lot about the season lived so far.
Bologna keeps a tough Pesaro at bay
Carpegna Prosciutto resisted as much as possible, remaining in the game at the Segafredo Arena until the last quarter, but had to bow to the superiority of the Virtus d’Italia in office. So the defense of the Scudetto won last year by Segafredo Bologna starts with a success, against one of the surprises of this championship, the Pesaro that was missing from post – even since 2012, when it went up to the semifinals, then beaten by Milan. With the advantage of not really having anything to lose, Luca Banchi’s team stood up to the hosts (without Teodosic, out due to a small ankle injury), two points ahead at the end of the first period (24-22) . The Black Vu, however, extended in the second quarter, so as to advance by nine in the middle of the match (45-36), and then managed to manage this margin without suffering too much a few days after the triumph in Eurocup (62-54 at 30 ′). Coach Scariolo’s line-up sends five men in double figures, with top scorer a Marco Belinelli in a good evening (14 points), followed by Shengelia, somewhat inspired also in the assist zone, and Jaiteh with 12 each, one more than Weems and Cordinier . On the Marche side, the performance of Sanford is to be applauded, author of 21 points, but it is not enough to overturn the prediction.
SEGAFREDO BOLOGNA-CARPEGNA PESARO 82-76
(24-22, 45-36, 62-54)
VIRTUS SEGAFREDO BOLOGNA: Tessitori 7, Mannion 1, Belinelli 14, Pajola 2, Alibegovic 2, Hervey, Jaiteh 12, Shengelia 12, Hackett 4, Sampson 6, Weems 11, Cordinier 11. Coach: Scariolo.
PESARO CARPEGNA HAM: Mejeris 2, Moretti 12, Tambone 11, Lamb 6, Camara, Zanotti 8, Sanford 21, Demetrio 1, Delfino 3, Jones 12. Coach: Banchi.
REFEREES: Lanzarini-Lo Guzzo-Perciavalle.
NOTE: Free throws: Bologna 15/9, Pesaro 16/12. No one came out for five fouls.
Venice bends the Tortona revelation back
In the same part of the scoreboard, Venezia, which has never lost a series of quarter-finals, relied on its greater habit of this type of matches against Tortona at a distance, passing by 77-66 at the PalaFerraris in Casale Monferrato so as to snatch the home factor from the Piedmontese. Against the terrible freshman Bertram, who in his first year in Serie A closed the regular season in fourth place and is making his absolute debut in the play-offs, after being down in the first half of the game (22-18 at 10 ‘and 37- 35 at the long interval) Reyer changed the inertia of the game in the third period (10-0 break), closed at 59-53 in her favor and then in the last quarter she placed the decisive extension that weakened the resistance of the team of coach Ramondino, with Bramos protagonist of the final part of the match. Among De Raffaele’s men it is Watt, with 15 points, to carve out the role of absolute protagonist (13 for Tonut and Theodore), while for the hosts Wright is the best in the field with 16 points.
BERTRAM TORTONA-UMANA VENICE 66-77
(22-18, 37-35, 53-59)
BERTRAM DERTHONA TRASH CAN TORTON: Mortellaro ne, Wright 16, Cannon 5, Tavernelli, Filloy 5, Mascolo 8, Cattapan ne, Severini 2, Sanders 2, Daum 4, Cain 10, Macura 14. Coach: Ramondino.
HUMAN REYER VENICE: Stone 3, Bramos 13, Tonut 13, De Nicolao, Echodas ne, Morgan 5, Mazzola 6, Brooks 6, Theodore 13, Cerella ne, Vitali 3, Watt 15. Coach: De Raffaele.
REFEREES: Mazzoni-Giovannetti-Grigioni.
NOTE: Free throws: Tortona 8/10, Venice 6/12. No one came out for five fouls.
Milan dominates first then risks with Reggio
Olimpia starts off on the right foot, which complicates life at the Assago Forum risking to squander an advantage of 24 points, but in the end wins the first act of the series. The final 91-82 becomes a story only in the last minutes, with Reggio Emilia (missing from the play-offs since 2017) that with pride and character dates back to 84-80 and dreams of ruining the plans of the formation of Ettore Messina, orphan of Melli (formerly on duty), Delaney and Mitoglu, while Candi, Olisevicius and Diouf are out of the question among the Emilians. Yet, the start is all red and white, with the hosts ahead 24-18 at the end of the first quarter and 51-40 at the long interval. Upon returning from the locker rooms, Armani, pushed by Shields, Bentil and Rodriguez, moves up to +24 (80-56) and seems to close the match, but between the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the last one, Caja’s men find a sensational 18-0 partial that brings them back to two possessions full of distance from the premises. The Unahotels, finalist in the Fiba Europe Cup, dates back to -4, but Shields’ baskets and Datome’s triple make Milan breathe: the 20 points in 29 minutes of Shields are decisive, but also Bentil (18 with 7 rebounds), Rodriguez (11 with 3/6 from the arc) and Datome (13) to the first success in Milan, while in Reggio Thompson Jr is not enough (21 points).
ARMANI MILANO-UNAHOTELS 91-82
(24-18, 51-40, 80-62)
A | X ARMANI CAMBIO MILAN: Rodriguez 11, Erba ne, Ricci 5, Biligha 6, Hall 11, Baldasso, Daniels, Shields 20, Alviti ne, Hines 7, Bentil 18, Datome 13. Coach: Messina.
UNAHOTELS REGGIO EMILIA: Thompson Jr 21, Hopkins 5, Baldi Rossi 6, Strautins 8, Crawford 9, Colombo ne, Soliani ne, Cinciarini 17, Johnson 11, Larson 5. Coach: Caja.
REFEREES: Paternicò-Vicino-Quarta.
NOTE: Free throws: Milan 9/12, Reggio Emilia 16/19. No one came out for five fouls.
Trieste: examination of offers by company continues
Pallacanestro Trieste 2004 is continuing the due diligence relating to the evaluation of the proposals to enlarge the company structure. Meetings and evaluations are underway to analyze the details of the offers, which have been expired at the end of the month, with the aim of defining the new structure in time for registration for the 2022-2023 championship and to formalize the agreements with the core of the team group. The company announced it. “At the moment – the members of the board of directors declare – as regards in particular the offer from a local entrepreneur, it would be an important addition that should result from the expansion of the company structure: an expansion of the current team is therefore taking place. through the acquisition of a majority of shares. The shareholders will confirm their willingness to maintain the minority share: thus, to create a new extended scheme that will allow to strengthen the company from a financial point of view and integrate the current sponsorships. The enlargement of the shareholding structure and its governance will be carried out through a capital increase “.
The further offer under evaluation is configured instead – explains the company – as a total sale of the quotation against the purchase of the complete share package, but “the details of the potential transaction, which concerns an entrepreneur residing abroad, are not at the moment disclosable “.