With the points from the point guard and Olejniczak’s excessive power under the basket, Fioretti’s team catches up with Virtus and Brescia
Tortona momentarily catches Virtus and Brescia at the top at the start of the eighth day of Lba: Fioretti’s team beats Udine 94-90 with a very cold Vital – the best of his team with 23 points – who in the final knocks out Apu from the arc. The physicality of Olejniczak was also decisive, as he scored a double double of 15 points and 10 rebounds. Cremona’s excellent run also continues, crushing Trieste 113-94 thanks to the Durham-Ndiaye duo (24 points each): it is the fourth victory in as many matches at the PalaRadi for Vanoli.
udine-tortona 90-94
—
Fioretti’s team bounced back after the defeat in Trieste with a solid performance, which saw the guests ahead throughout the match. The first half ends in favor of Bertram 36-48. What drove Tortona was the 10-0 break brought about by Vital and which arrived in the very first minutes of the match, as well as an impeccable internal defense which limited Apu to 41% from 2 in the first half of the match. In the second half the home team couldn’t find a solution to contain Olejniczak at the rim, who scored 7 consecutive points in the opening 3′ of the second half, and made a couple of defensive mistakes on Strautins at the end of the third quarter which kept Derthona with a double-digit lead (62-72). Hickey’s and especially Dawkins’ outbursts bring Udine back to -2 in the final (87-89), but Vital’s glacial thrust from the corner is the tombstone for Apu: Tortona closes it from the line and regains the top spot for an evening.
Udine: Dawkins 26, Hickey 21, Alibegovic 12
Tortona: Vital 23, Strautins 20, Olejniczak 15
cremona-trieste 113-94
—
Cremona amazes again, crushes Trieste and stops the Giulians’ positive streak against Vanoli, which had seen the red and whites win the last six direct clashes. Despite what we see on the scoreboard, the first half is very balanced. The hosts contain a Trieste in rhythm from long range (41% from 3) thanks to the energy spent on offensive rebounds (11 captured by Brotto’s team), which allow them to capitalize on second chances and end the first half of the match ahead 50-46. The Giulians resisted until midway through the third quarter, when a couple of bloody turnovers shut down Gonzalez’s men: Durham and Willis led from the arc to make the 8-0 break which put Cremona ahead in double figures for the first time (69-59). Ndiaye and Durham prolong the Trieste haemorrhage, the maximum advantage rises to +21 (90-69) in the first minutes of the last period: from here on there is nothing left for the guests to do, the Lombards manage comfortably in the final.
Cremona: Durham and Ndiaye 24, Willis 14
Trieste: Ramsey 16, Uthoff 15, Brown 13
ON THE FIELD TOMORROW: Sassari-Trento (12), Varese-Cantù (17), Reggio Emilia-Venice (17.30), Milan-Trapani (18), Naples-Brescia (19)
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED