San Marino KO in debut with Albania • newsrimini.it
ALBANIA-SAN MARINO 50-43
THE TABLE
ALBANIA: Hida 6 (2/8), Sharra 2 (1/2, 0/1), Simo 15 (4/7, 1/2), Spahiu 10 (2/4, 1/4), Vezi 11 (4/11 , 0/2), Aleksi, Brika, Cima (0/3, 0/1), Taflaj 4 (2/4, 0/1), Koci 2 (0/4 from three), Keri (0/2), Engjelli. Coach: Hoxha.
SAN MARINO: Botteghi 6 (0/9, 1/8), Marinelli 7 (2/10, 1/4), Pagliarani 8 (3/4, 0/1), Gasperoni 16 (7/18), Zavoli 2 (1/4 ), Berti 2 (1/2), Bianchi (0/1, 0/1), Michelotti (0/1), Ronci (0/1 of three), Longo 2 (0/3, 0/2), Rossini (0/1), Conforti. Herdsman: Porcarelli.
Partial: 20-15, 33-20, 44-38, 50-43.
Free throws: Albania 21/14, San Marino 21/9.
Rebounds: Albania 52 (Hida 12), San Marino 48 (Botteghi 10).
Assistance: Albania 12 (Vezi 4), San Marino 11 (Botteghi 5).
CHRONICLE AND COMMENT
Nothing to do at the debut at the Under 16 European Championship for the boys of coach Porcarelli. Albania beats San Marino for 50-43, with the biancazzurri good at returning to the surface from -17 and fighting until the last minutes of the race with the hope of victory.
The match. The first basket is by Thomas Gasperoni (0-2), then Albania moves on to lead and never looks back. The game, however, in the first quarter is quite balanced, with our good at not letting the opponents run away. Botteghi’s triple is worth -2 (13-11), Berti’s basket is -3 in change from the siren of the fourth before Sharra’s layup (20-15).
In the second quarter the percentages dropped drastically. Marinelli scores 2 immediately for the new rapprochement (20-17), then Albania widens the margin with a painful 11-0 break that writes on the board on 31-17 at -1’39 “from the long interval. Longo’s free player breaks the spell, Zavoli responds to the basket of a perfect Vezi is a
half race is 33-20.
In the second half Albania reaches 40-23 and seems to have already closed the game early, but San Marino reacts with character. Gasperoni’s points and Marinelli’s triple are worth -10 (42-32) and there are still 13 minutes to play. Albania calls time-out but coach Porcarelli’s guys are good at keeping attention high
and not to touch the gaze. Botteghi scores two free throws, Gasperoni goes with the tack in the center of the area and the two of Miky Pagliarani are very close opponents (42-38, break 15-2 of ours). The fourth ends at 44-38, all still to be played.
In the final ten minutes the fatigue is felt. The will to defend strong is all there, so much so that Albania scores only 6 points. The problem for San Marino is that the ball in the basket just doesn’t want to enter. A free shot by Longo arrives in the opening and two canisters by Gasperoni in the central part (48-43 at 35 ‘), then nothing more. The
margin is small, but unfortunately ours are unable to mend. It ends 50-42.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) the San Marino boys will meet Malta at 4 pm.